“Are the tubes ready?”

“Y-yea… We had some complications with the creation. A few of the tubes bent out of shape, making them useless… We started being more careful after that.”

The dwarf mother looked at me, one of her daughter was acting all fidgety behind her… I'm going to make the guess it was her fault. I can only smile and say.

“It's fine, I only need one for testing purposes. If you don't mind, keep working on making a few more though. Especially you over there. You need to keep getting better so you can help your mom work.”

The girl dwarf only nods… As I walk passed her I give a little pat on her head. She gets all fidgety and runs away. I don't think she likes me… Maybe it is the opposite? Maybe she has a crush on me… Each tube is a different size. I want to test if the size of the barrel effects the distance and power of the shot. If my last barrels were 1.5 foot long, the longest barrel is my 5 foot one. Around the same thickness, slightly bigger barrel diameter, triple the weight, more resilient to not exploding. Using steel over iron was a good idea, I don't want more scars on my face.

I'm going to try and make the usage system take both mana canisters and wind wall scrolls. Perhaps I'll make a bigger, thicker version to use both at once. But using either ammunition instead of relying on one will help me not run out of ammo… I would like to look into using a mana crystal as ammunition… I'll have to think about it more… Perhaps if I ground it down into a powder, then mix it with charcoal powder and applied flare scroll wick to active… More testing will need to be done so I don't blow shrapnel into my face again.

For now, I work on a single ammunition usage with interchangeable ammunition. I also want to add a removable butt so I can more accurately fire it. I add sights to it, making it more accurate. This item isn't meant for multiple usages. If I design it good enough, It can replace the cross-bo-staffs the mages use.

After working on it, I decided to put the removable butt on a hinge. This allowed me to easily remove the spent ammo, while adding in more than snapping the butt back into place. With this more effective reloading system then the one I had previously. I could increase my fire rate to around 10 shots per minute. If I tried really hard and aimed less I could get it to maybe 20 shots per minute, 10 shots per minute is a good average for people to hit though. The accuracy of this gun would transfer even to an inexperienced fighter. Allowing them to fire accurately after test firing a few times.

10 shots might not seem like much… This weapon can be used by anyone, that is what makes it such a good weapon. Even children might be able to use smaller version of this weapon… That is frightening to me. Besides my generals, it would be too time consuming to make ammunition for all my troops. Perhaps if I find a cheaper ammunition, they'll all get one made eventually. I create the remaining guns for my generals.

I still have to try the few ideas I thought up… I would like a thicker barrel before I attempt mana crystal ammunition. I need to test the explosive properties of it compared to a mana canister. I grab one out and set a flare scroll trap on the ground next to it. Using control wind, I pick up the crystal and drop it on the trap. Setting it off, in comparison to a mana canister… The explosion is about 5 times the size… That is far too dangerous to use in the gun I had been using… Very likely the tube could explode.

So if I chop up a mana crystal, break it down into powder, mix it with charcoal and separate it into six like size piles. Then put it in a container… It should theoretically work at around the same capacity as a mana canister… Only at around 1/5 the size… Perhaps I can make a smaller version of my weapon later after more testing. Satisfied with my results, I decide to name my new weapon. It is long… Long like Epieoth's weapon, perhaps a similar name would be good… Kniferifle sounds good to me… I can almost feel Trice laughing at my naming sense... Perhaps I'll change the ammunition once I shrink the overall design.

I'm done with my experimenting… I still need to talk to Greed about how to make mana crystals. The sun had just started to set. Tomorrow is going to be yet another busy day. Green and Leon will learn the last classes they need… I knock on Leaf's door, heading in I don't even talk to her. I just walk passed her, falling on the bed to sleep. Dead tired from teaching my generals and experimenting.

I wake up the next morning… On the floor again… If me and Leaf do decide to become a couple. I might have to sleep in a different bed… Or pad the floor around the bed. Leaf is sleeping at the edge of the bed now. On her side, one more roll and she would fall right off onto me.

I head to Leon, he might be the only person up right now… Leon… Doesn't get much sleep. Even inside the time tree, he would never be able to get a full nights rest… I wish I could teach him the insomniac or early bird skills… I've tried and it seems those are the very few ones that I can't teach. He is outside training…

I teach Leon the bard class… I still don't understand why bard was taken. Maybe Leon would know.

“Hey… Do you know why bard is included in this awakened class?”

He continues to punch the dummy, giant dents and gashes are missing from it already. This dummy is made of hardened wood… It is almost a tough as iron, to damage it that much… He speaks after a few more punches.

“It… That is one of Kattie's classes…”

I hadn't even thought of that… Just like Leaf. He must have secretly wanted this class to carry on her legacy… I can't believe… All this analyzes and I haven't thought of something so obvious. I feel like a fool for not realizing it. So the classes must be influenced, at least partially. I start working on some more theories… I feel the amount of things I don't understand is only going up and never going down.

I head to Green's room. Knocking on the door and heading inside, I teach her as quickly as possible. She is done with the awakened class. Now she only needs 2 classes to fill her open slots now. I can't do that today. Today is going to be focused on maintaining the ships, making sure they are ready for the upcoming fight. That is all I do for the remainder of the day.

The next day I go to talk with Leon and teach him the remaining class he needs. Awakened classes seem unfairly strong. Unlike normal classes, the awakened class normally gains six times the amount of skills as a normal class. For people who can only have 1-4 classes. That is a tremendous boost to abilities. Even though it has only been days of him learning it. I can already see improvements to Leon's musculature.

He decided to learn saboteur, a fairly good fit for him… I wish I could have told him more about the skills after level 1… He took the risk, very Leon like. I teach Green the berserker and barbarian… By her choice… I guess both of the generals learning from me right now are my 2 craziest generals.

Tomorrow I will teach the ninjas. The next day I plan to baby set of Gobber and let him explore the murines island for pets. Then 2 days of break, last minute preparation for the upcoming fight. I'll fly away from the ships once we start to get closer to the fort. I still need to do some precursory scouting before the fight. I give myself a day of just that. Then the first large scale battle will start that night. Multiple things can go wrong with this plan… I hope nothing goes wrong…

The next day I wake up. Heading through the portal I prepare to teach all the ninjas in the village. Nami gets them all prepared. The ages are far different then I thought they would be. Expecting them to all be of age… Because murines age slower, there are far more children size murine folk mixed into the group… What looks like a child anyways, if they look like they are only 7 they're actually 35... Taking that into account. Chances are there are only 30-40 ready for battle ninjas. The rest will take years upon years to finally be ready… Damn those pirates… They killed off all the good older fighters when they attacked.

I let them decide. Of course a few ask for things they would like to do. Nature mage to help with the production of the scrolls, monk because Nami had learned it and they are following in her footsteps. They pick far more varied classes then I thought they would. Everyone choosing the class that would best suit them ends with at least 1-3 people learning each class I can teach.

I'm tired but… Surprisingly not that tired. Teaching awakened classes is similar to teaching 50 students. So teaching 2 awakened classes had taken more out of me. I teach a few of the non combatant murine folk the transmutation, enchanting, alchemy and synthesis jobs. All in future hopes that this will make my troops stronger… Speaking of which, I start to get a few questions as to why there aren't more murine folk. Seeking Nami out as she left after getting me started.

She is training as per usual… It is already getting to be dusk, the entire day was spent teaching. As young as she is… She might be one of the oldest ninja alive right now. She seems more… Frustrated then normal. Her swings with the wooden training sword more violent, less precise. More sweat covers her, soaking through her fur. I didn't make any attempt to hide myself but she hasn't noticed me. Before, even approaching her from behind, she would still show signs that she knew I was there. Her ears would perk up and her stance would change slightly. I speak loudly far enough away to not scare her.

“Hey Nami. I have a question to ask you.”

She stops swinging, putting her sword down and focuses on me more intently than normal. Most of our talks are with her continuing to train. With her stopping, it almost feels awkward. She grabs a piece of cloth and starts wiping sweat off herself. With how intently she is looking, I can tell she has something heavy on her mind. She speaks to me...

“What can I help you with?”

“I was just wondering. Why aren't there more murine folk? If you live for so long, you would think that is a higher chance of having children. You would eventually have so many on the island you would need to move to a bigger one.”

“While we murine folk do give birth to multiple children at once. Think of how the birthing process would work for creatures that live 5 times longer than humans. The chances of getting pregnant are pushed to once every 5 months. The time it takes to carry children goes up as well. With the time increasing. The chances of miscarrying also increases… If it happens to a human 1 out of 5 times… It happens almost half of the time for us…

She starts to look far sadder. I can almost see tears in her eyes as her solemn face winces into a frown. Her bottom lip starts to quiver as she opens her mouth but doesn't speak. She slams her hand off the sand covered ground, forcing herself to continue.

"Then the children are babies for 5 times as long. Weak… Defenseless babies… That can be kidnapped and taken easily away from their homes. Some of the babies, mentally older than you but still completely defenseless...”

Fear shoots through me… I just realized something I didn't see in this village. Children! The handful of children I saw were most likely born after the pirate attack… That is who the hostages are… SHIT! SHIT SHIT SHIT!

“...Wow… I'm sorry I asked… I guess I'll go and… Leave you to your training...”

I start to feel sick to my stomach at the thoughts going through my head. This complicates things beyond anything I had thought of. Not only did they steal children away. At that age, they would be far more likely to turn into future pirates… I start to feel sick at the thought of them killing children if we miss calculate the plan even a little. We could also run into another Beatrice situation, where the children don't want to be saved. It also sounded like maybe Nami had lost a child to the attack, or several children… OH MY GOD OF LIFE! Before I can walk away she stops me.

“Kite… Stop… Can you help me…"

She is now visibly shaking. Tears well in her eyes as she continues to speak.

"Can you help me get stronger... I put in so much work to get stronger, no one could rival me on this island besides the old men. Then you come along and get so much stronger... It is as if you aren't even the same person. Leon was so weak, he didn't stand a chance against me. Then a week later he is strong enough to beat me with a single attack… Please help me…”

Tears pour down her sweat soaked face. She is someone I doubt has ever begged for anything. She has been pushed to the limits of what she can take. A scared mother trying to save her children and the future of her village. Forced into the role of the lead ninja because of the eradication of the ninjas who could fight back or make an attempt at rescuing the children 10 years ago.

“I-I'll… I'll see what I can do.”

I start to shake now… This is getting too personal for me. The stakes have risen passed getting the ninjas as allies. I feel invested, the thing that happened to Greed could happen to someone else. And with me not being able to do anything to help… I'll make her stronger, so strong she is a monster before then. It seems Gobber is going to have to wait for his day off… I just wish he could help me in this fight. I'll have to convince Hilda to let him fight somehow...