Disclaimer: I own nothing; just the OC

'Thought'

"Talking"

*Action*

"Powerful entity (gods, dragons, etc.)"

[System]

Three weeks have passed and quickly the Branwen Tribe has seen some changes.

Well… as much as you can change a tribe of thieves and murders.

The first thing that was changed was the training regime. Apparently, Raven had deliberately sabotaged everyone's training so that no one could be stronger than her and should anyone try they will be dealt with quickly.

That didn't sit well with me. However, when I brought this up with Raven...

"The weak die, the strong survive. That is the law of the Branwen Tribe." Raven states.

I frown at those words. "But where's the drive, Raven? Their motivation to be strong." I asked her. "From what I've noticed, everyone here wants to be strong for the sake of being strong. I mean, they're just wasting their potential."

Raven folds her arms, "you don't need a reason to be strong. You are strong because you have managed to do something that others can't."

I narrow my eyes. "You're missing the point here, Raven. Having a purpose gives that strength meaning; it makes your efforts worth something."

We continued to argue back and forth for a while about this, but we did seem to reach an agreement somehow.

In the end, Raven started giving our warriors real combat training while I was in charge of their speed.

*BANG*

"You sadistic bastard! Are you trying to kill us!?" One of the bandits yells as they narrowly dodge my attacks.

I tried very hard not to smile. "No, of course not! I'm clearly testing your reaction time." I cock my gun. "Now DODGE!"

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

The bandits groan in exhaustion as they narrowly dodge my bullets.

On the plus side, nobody's dead.

"Again."

Raven POV

Idiot.

Naïve, genuine idiot.

Does he honestly think this is going to work!? Giving them training!? That's just asking for trouble.

These idiots only know two things: strength and power. I only gave them the barest minimum of training because if they see their leader willingly giving them power, they will see their leader as weak and attempt to usurp them.

I tried to warn him that this would come back to bite him in the end, but he simply wouldn't listen. He seemed to become angrier the longer we argued and, in the end, I reluctantly agreed with him. I didn't want to be in the wrong end of his wrath... not again.

Soon after, he and I started training the denizens of the tribe. He is a Fool...

He shouldn't trust others so easily; faith in others will only get you killed.

It's why I only ever trusted Vernal with the full training.

I just don't understand why he is doing all of this. He is a lion among wolves. He could easily crush anyone in his way without lifting a literal finger and yet…

"Why is he doing this? What does he plan to do with the tribe?" I ask no one. He makes me submit to him and now he is acting like it never happened.

Its disconcerting.

I stare at Asmodeus training everyone. "Just what the hell did I get myself into...?"

Normal POV

With training over, everyone sat in the campfire eating their meals. Some of them seem to be enjoying their food more than others.

Food does taste better after a long day of work, after all.

"Man, those guys look like they haven't eaten in ages. Just what kind of hell did you put them through?"

Sitting by the side of the campfire is a skinny man with long dirty blond hair and gray eyes with a stubble around his mouth. He wears a dark blue and gray jacket with torn sleeves over a long sleeved shirt He wears a bandana around his neck and has a shoulder pad on his right shoulder. He wears brown leather fingerless gloves with straps and brown pants with boots.

"You're…" I began. "Shay, right?"

The man, Shay, gives me a wide smile. "Oh, I'm honored that you know my name." He extends his arm out. "Shay D. Mann, at your service."

Shay D. Mann Level 17

Title: Dark Bandit

HP: 2,850

SP: 3,120

AP: 2,200

VIT: 95

STR: 68

DEX: 65

INT: 56

WIS: 44

LUK: 58

CHA: 112

Description: A bandit of the Branwen Tribe that has known Raven and Qrow for a long time. Despite being the weakest among them, he has been able to survive for this long due his ability to charm his way out of situations and his silver tongue. The main reason Raven kept him around for so long is because of his unorthodox connections to the Haven and Vale Underworld. Shay wields a crude revolver-like pistol with knuckles and a blade attached to the handle that has a tendency to jam.

Current thoughts about you: Dumbass, wanna-be king, weakling

'He doesn't think that highly of me, does he?' I thought as I read the description. Despite how low his level is, the fact that he is still alive speaks volumes of his negotiation skills. Plus the fact that he has connections to the criminal underworld is something to note.

'Still, I should keep an eye on him.' I extend my arm and shake his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Shay."

"Hehehe." Shay chuckles and lets go of my hand. "So how does it feel to be the chieftain of one of the strongest tribes on this side of Remnant?"

I look down at the empty bowl. "It's interesting." I told him. "I'm used to being in the background, where no one would even notice that I was there." I let out a chuckle. "But now here I am, leading an entire settlement."

"It must be freaking you out."

"I won't lie, being a leader is a bit scary" I admit, "but I plan to live up to my new position."

Shay nods at my statement. "Well then know that you have my full support, Boss."

I nod.

Shay raises his cup. "To our new King!" Everyone exclaims in agreement.

With that, we all continue to enjoy the night with food, alcohol and singing. It honestly surprises how carefree the Branwen Tribe is at this moment compared to how the show depicted them.

I smile a little, this is nice.

After a while, my eyelids grow heavy and I decide to retire for the night. I walk into the Chieftain's Tent and collapse on the bed, letting sleep completely take over.

(The Next Day)

I slowly open my eyes and notice an unfamiliar feeling. I turn to look and see a sleeping Raven wearing a very revealing red nightgown. My face turns crimson as I see Raven's large soft breasts caressing my arm, effectively burying it in her cleavage.

"WHOA!" I yelp and fall off my bed.

Raven yawns and slowly gets up. "Good morning…"

I try to compose myself as I give her a glare. "What are you doing here, Raven?"

Raven looks at me skeptically. "Why wouldn't I be here? This is my tent."

"Correction, it WAS your tent but now it's mine. You can sleep in the other tents." I corrected her. "And also why are you wearing that!?" I point at her current attire.

Raven looks down at her nightgown. "This is just what I wear when I go to bed, it's no big deal." She then gains a glint in her eye and smirks. "Unless… you like what you see."

My glare never seized. "Shut up."

Raven's eyes slowly move downward. "You say that but your friend there says otherwise."

I follow her line of sight and see my erection. I quickly cover it with blankets and run outside.

Raven smirks, "still got it."

I let out a sigh as I oversaw the bandit's training. "Fucking bitch…" I can't believe Raven would do that and wear… that. Doesn't she at least have some decency? I'm a guy for crying out loud, she should be more careful!

Still…

I can't get that nightgown out of my mind. It didn't hide the well-developed body underneath. Her pale skin was like marble, pure and polished. Her eyes are like jewels, rough but beautiful. Every guy who meets her probably dreams about Raven's hourglass figure and large breasts. In fact, her outfit actually squeezes down her breasts to a D-cup but that nightgown made them an E-cup.

[Hey, Asmodeus, Earth to Asmodeus. Get your head out of the gutter already!]

I snap out of my daydream and… am I bleeding from my nose!?

[Wow, Raven is really messing you up]

I wiped off my nosebleed. "Its not my fault, its these stupid teenage hormones!" I whisper so that no one can hear me.

[Is that so? How long are you going to use that excuse? Do you really think I wouldn't notice?]

"What are you talking about?"

[Your feelings for Raven have changed. When you first met her, you wanted nothing to do with her because of her cowardice and overall hypocrisy. But ever since you both fell into the underground, something has changed within you. You suddenly began to worry about her and cared for her safety; you even went as far as to save her from a legion of Apathy and fought a Titan just to protect her]

I narrowed my eyes, "excuse me but if you hadn't noticed, it was a matter of life and death in there; regardless of the reasons."

["Having a purpose gives that strength meaning; it makes your efforts worth something." Remember those words? They're your own, and because of that, you protected Raven until you managed to leave the underground. No one made you protect her; you could have simply taken the Maiden power and left her for dead but didn't and became stronger for her]

I become exasperated. "Is there a rest stop between now and the freaking point?"

[The POINT, Asmodeus, is that you are developing feelings for Raven Branwen despite your disdain towards her. A contradiction to pretty much your entire viewpoint of her, something that I just cannot understand]

"Well… life is strange sometimes." I said.

[Life, huh? I wouldn't understand…]

I blink at the shift in tone.

Was Tobi… sad?

"Hey, Boss!"

I turn to see Shay running towards me. "Hey Shay, what's up?"

"Oh nothing," Shay raises his weapon. "I just wanna show you how strong I've become."

My expression is blank. "Shay, you've only been training for four days… I wouldn't see any results until at least a few weeks."

"C'mon man, just a friendly spar. Unless you're scared of course." Shay taunted.

I blink a few times at his obvious taunt before I smirk. "Sure, I could use a training dummy."

Shay's smile seems to grow wider and the two of us walk towards the training grounds. As we make our way there, I notice Vernal staring at me with an unreadable expression as if in deep thought.

Quest Alert!

Quest: A Friendly Spar.

Objective: Fight Shay D. Mann until he admits defeat.

Rewards: 4556 EXP, 1299 Lien, Branwen Tribe's Reputation increases, Vernal's Affection greatly increases.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

Shay responds by raising his revolver and opening fire at me, however the bullets are all deflected by my Aura.

'I don't know how I should react to this…' I thought as I let the bullets bounce off..

"Idiot." Vernal spits out.

Frustrated, Shay lets out an angry growl as he continues to shoot me until his weapon suddenly jams. "Dammit!" He glares at me, "how are you not even hurt!?"

"Fuck you, that's how." Before he can react, I sprint forward and give Shay a "friendly" tap that sends him flying out of the training grounds and crashes into a tent which falls apart on him.

Everyone who saw had their mouths hanging open at what just happened. Did he just beat Shay by tapping him!? How ridiculously strong is he!?

"Come on get up, don't tell me that love tap was all it took to beat you?" I yelled.

Everyone sweat drops at the statement. 'That was just a love tap!?' They exclaim simultaneously.

After a minute or so, Shay did not get out of the ruined tent "Hey… you okay?" Concerned, I walk towards the crate to check to see if he is alright, however, as I reach out a fist comes flying towards me and hits me in the face. I take a few steps back as Shay's body sprints out of the crate completely fine.

"Damn, I thought I had you." Shay exclaims.

My eye twitches a little, that little weasel! I can't believe I was worried about him! Now I'm really gonna let him have it!

Taking position, I rush at Shay with a series of punches and kicks. Shay narrowly manages to dodge some of them and tries to retaliate. The keyword being "try". The moment he did, he left himself wide open for me to elbow him in the stomach causing to stagger at the sudden burst of pain.

"Guagh!" Shay cries, placing a hand on his stomach.

"You know, Shay, while I do like to use guns and swords, I prefer to fight with my bare hands. Wanna know why?" I crack my knuckles. "It's because you are your own lethal weapon, but don't worry" Shay looks like he is about to pee his pants. "I'll make sure to hold back so that you don't die in one punch."

And so our spar continues though it isn't much a "spar" anymore, more of a beatdown really. I let Shay have it; not even his Aura is able to protect him. He did try to protect himself but it was all a hopeless endeavor as I just sponged all of his attacks; a benefit of being the strongest.

Vernal looks on in awe at her chief's sudden brutality… and this was him holding back! Is this what he did to beat Raven and kill the Titan!? How!? Where did he get this much strength in three days, is it his Semblance!? No, his Semblance allows him to create Aura constructs but then what is it?

'I want to know… I want to know the source of his strength!' Vernal thought as she watched the beatdown in awe.

The other bandits' reactions are mixed. Half of them are cheering at their new chief beating down the rat who's only good with his mouth. The rest, meanwhile, feel shivers go down their spines as they watch the chief's power first-hand and are equally shocked that he is holding back.

Shay struggles to stand up, blood is flowing down his mouth and nose and his body is littered in bruises. As he looks up, he doesn't see a man but rather an indomitable giant who doesn't bat an eye at him like he is an ant or something.

"What-"

The character "Death" is painted red in front of Shay in the form of a giant fist jets towards him like a meteor.

'I'm going to die.' Shay thought as his life flashes before his eyes. 'I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die!'

'I don't wanna die!'

"I surrender!" Shay cries out, covering his head with his arms. "Please don't kill me!" However, the impact never came. When he looks up, he sees me with my hands in my pockets and a smile on my face.

"Good choice." I extend my hand out. "So tell me, how does it feel to have stared at death in the face?"

"I.." Shay stares at my hand but slowly takes it. "It… was something…" He whimpers as I pull him up.

"Next time, when I say you're not ready, you should listen to me. If this had been an actual fight, you'd already be dead." I told him.

"What...?" Shay murmurs. I could have died? Actually died...!?

"You heard me, now hold still." I raise my arm up. "[Heal]" My hand glows green as I heal the bruises.

"Thanks... Boss." Shay says as I continue healing his body.

Quest Complete!

Quest: A Friendly Spar.

Objective (Complete): Fight Shay D. Mann until he admits defeat.

Rewards: 4556 EXP, 1299 Lien, Branwen Tribe's Reputation increases, Vernal's Affection greatly increases.

[Branwen Tribe Reputation increased by 26]

[Vernal's affection increased by 35]

Skill Level Up!

[Heal LVL. 25/100]

I finish healing him, "do you still want to continue?"

Shay frantically shakes his head. "No!" He exclaims. "I, umm… I want to train by myself for a while." He walks away, leaving me a bit skeptical about his sudden reaction.

"Hey!"

I turn around to see Vernal running towards us. "I… I know I didn't leave the best first impression, but could you make me strong like you?" Her nose wrinkles as she struggles to come up with the words. "I want it, no, I need it. I don't want to be weak, so please!" She almost throws herself on all fours. "Teach me how to be strong like you!"

I let out a sigh. "You're right about one thing, you didn't leave the best first impression since you tried to kill me and everything." I scratch the back of my head. "This isn't really something I can teach…" It's only because of the Gamer System that I am as strong as I am now.

"So you wouldn't…?" God, she looks so pathetic right now.

"I didn't say that…" I told her. "I just don't know where to start on your training."

Vernal's eyes light up as she looks at me with enthusiasm. He'll teach her? He's willing to teach her!? It took her years to convince Raven to train her and that was because she had to prove herself strong enough to endure her training. "Thank you!"

[Vernal's Affection increased by 29]

I help her get up. "Alright settle down," I take a fighting pose "ready for round 2?"

Vernal smiles and charges at me as I effortlessly dodge all of her punches. The tribe watches in awe at the fight like they haven't seen something entertaining in a long time.

Meanwhile, Shay looks on from the background as the two spar and Vernal seemingly lasting longer against him. He looks at his hand and sees it trembling as he is reminded by what he saw. "A monster." Shay mumbles. "That guy is a monster…!" He walks away, not noticing the corvid perched on the roof.

A preview, would you kindly?

"Master!" Vernal waves at me.

I facepalm. "I told her not to call me that…"

"But why? I thought you'd like to have a girl call you that." Raven teases.

"Shut up."

"We only need supplies, we don't have to kill them."

"And you think they'll be thankful that we spared them? We're struggling to survive just as hard as them; it's all about the survival of the fittest." Shay states.

"And that gives you the excuse to murder civilians; children!?" I yell.

"AHHHHHH! Stop, stop, stop!"

"How could you do this? I thought we were friends!"

"Friends? With a monster like you? That's rich. I don't know what sort of mind control you're using, but it wouldn't work on me."

"Amber… my name is Amber."

"A pleasure to meet you." Several arrows pierce my back. "Excuse me…"

Author Notes

And I'm back. So this is the start of the second arc, with the MC training the tribe and meeting Shay for the first time, at least face-to-face. He is beginning to have feelings for Raven despite how he feels about her whole character before and Tobi is having a hard time comprehending, and Vernal becomes his first pupil.

I've read the comments you guys wrote so far and I've tried to fix this to the best of my ability, if there's something to add/fix don't hesitate to let me know.

I live for this stuff; its what keeps this project going and all.

Anyways, what are your thoughts about this? A good start for the second arc of this story? The next chapter will be longer than this, I'm sure.

Leave a comment/review like always.

Peace~