“Hello sensei. I've come for my morning training, also to ask if you would like to sit in on a war meeting for the upcoming war.”

“Sure I'll come to your meeting… You look different… Did you get a hair cut?”

“Hah… Y-you could say that… You didn't notice I'm a lot taller now?”

“Are you? No you're definitely the same person. You're hair just looks different, so you must have changed it.”

“...Moving on, do you want to spar against me? I have to let you know that I'm slightly better than I was last time.”

“Alright, I'll spar with you… Let me stir this pot of alchemical ingredients. Very dangerous to eat or touch, stay back.”

...It is the same pot that he has used for everything else… Maybe he is so crazy before he eats out of the same… That isn't what he says it is, I can smell it. It smells like a pot of food. He begins to pull out herbs and spices, adding them into the soup as if to prove my point.

“Alright, I'm done for now. Shall we begin?”

We pair off like normal. Taking our stances… He notices my new stance and comments on it.

“Oh, it looks like you've made your own style, I'll use my own creation then too.”

He takes an odd stance… It is like he is dancing… I can't get a read on h-. WHACK! I get kicked in the head. FUCK! Knocked down immediately. I call out.

“Please just use your regular stance today. I need to test how much stronger I've gotten, if you want to use that style please go easy on me sensei.”

“Fine, I'll slow down my movements by half.”

Half of lightning fast is still really fast. He proceeds to destroy me with this odd style several times. I can't get a read on his style. Every time I think I do, he switches his dancing style again. About an hour of this and I have given up on landing attacks and focused on defense. Trying to watch his style to learn it.

Dance fighting martial arts learned- (mastery level novice) Very little knowledge of the martial art itself, through luck you might be able to pull off a move

That is a very unique fighting style. He continues to dance as he mixes in attacks almost unnoticeable. While I think it isn't a very strong style right now. It might mesh later once I acquire other skills/classes/jobs and other styles.

He breaks both my arms and legs as a final ritual, saying.

“Wow. You're bones are far thicker than they were before… So you got a haircut and new bones then. That is what is different about you.”

“Sorry I'm leaving so early. I just have so many things to do, so I need ever second of the day to do everything.”

“Sure go, go. I'll be fine… WAIT!… Will there be food at this meeting? I haven't eaten in days!”

“Why don't you eat that soup there?”

“Are you crazy!? That is almost poison. It would be very harmful to eat!”

I move closer taking in another smell… There is no way this is anything besides soup. I grab a ladle take a sip… Yea, this is definitely soup. He yells out.

“AHHH! Are you a demon!? How can you eat that poisonous concoction!?”

“...Please just try a spoon full master.”

He warily tries a sip. Then eats a mouthful of it. Then starts filling a bowl.

“Fool! Why did you tell me this was poisonous? This is clearly soup!”

“… Please come to the meeting later sensei.”

I head back to my base, getting around 20 people to help me. We move everything in front of the time tree I had pulled out to the barracks at the fortress. I tell them to go get every single person to get their new/repaired equipment. This way I can see the numbers of our army. I also need to see how many sets of gear need made before we go into battle. I tell them to get prepared then head outside and form up with their squad… It takes 2 hours to do this… If we were under attack, this amount of time could be the death of us.

“Alright, from now on keep the gear within range of you. Work on getting ready faster. It shouldn't take 2 hours to get ready to fight. That is 2 hours the enemy could be killing your comrades, get it down to 30 minutes.”

Someone from the crowd shouts.

“W-who are you exactly?”

“What? I'm Kite the leader of the army. Can't you tell… I aged myself forwards to be a better age to lead the army. This is what your leader looks like now, sorry for the confusion.”

I start the head count… The numbers are far more than I excepted. We haven't been fighting, only continuously gaining more members through children being born. Some of the gnolls who were born after they had become part of my army are finally old enough to fight… At least slightly enough, they'll be prime age in another year or 2 so they are fledgling fighters right now. I count out each group.

6 pets (discluding Darkclaw as a raid boss)

20 generals

100 gnoll beast riders (80 wolves 60 griffins 60 porcupines 20 bats 20 spiders)

130 demon tribe spellthieves

50 mixed race tank/healers

400 automatons (150 archers 150 tanks 100 mages)

120 kobold mages

10 elementalists

200 lizard men barbarians

3 raid boss equivalent troops (Rock, Troll, Darkclaw)

Potential allies (ninjas, vikings, bugbears)

… I didn't expect to get this close to 1000 troops. If you include the beast rider pets, we're over 1250 troops. We have about 500-600 non combatants on our side as well. I was giving myself an edge in numbers by rounding to 1000 for my averages… To make the 5000 pirates numbers seem smaller… To think that we have over 1000 troops… That is without the help of any other army, if we can gain the murine folk that is another 60-80 very strong troops to the army… We're still heavily outnumbered, my troops have every advantage I could have given them though. I give a speech since I've brought them all together, might as well.

“My men! I have brought you all together for one purpose. To fight against the pirates… I know we're outnumbered, I know some of us will die. Our deaths will not be in vain, we will free the ocean by doing this. Freeing all the islands they've had a grasp on for almost 100 years now. By doing this, we also have guaranteed safety of the ocean from then on. We save the city of Shienta and block off the chances of being attacked from our backs once the war with the north starts. This battle will be crucial. So we have to win… WE MUST WIN! AT ALL COSTS WE MUST DEFEAT THEM!”

A roar bursts over the troops. Screaming and cheering… That wasn't too bad for my first speech… Perhaps I should practice them in the future and pre-write them instead of doing it impromptu. I yell out.

“Everyone pair off, this will be a day where you practice your heart out. Train until you fall over from fatigue then get your fill of food. This is the last peaceful day we will have. Tomorrow we are entering enemy territory!”

Another, much shorter cheer proceeds. As the giant army looking towards me has started pairing off to practice. We've never done a large scale training exercise like this before. If I had more time, I would have liked to have a mock battle so they could get used to fighting together.

Well… I just made the chefs job much harder… Speaking of food. I head to check on the meat I had been… Where is it!? It should be right here cooking. I yell out.

“Does anyone know where the meat I was cooking here went!?”

A small boy from the demon tribe approaches me.

“Y-yea, some man told my papa to watch the food. But he said the speed at which it was cooking was too low and took it to the cafeteria to serve for breakfast.”

...Damn it… Why didn't he listen to me?… He probably didn't realize I was the leader of the army. I grab another 50 pound chunk of basilisk meat and yell.

“If anyone messes with this meat they will be punished.”

I restart cooking this meat… I really wish he hadn't have wasted it, this would have made the perfect meal for a war meeting… I guess I'll just grab a few meals of rations for everyone. I'm gathering up the materials when Leon approaches me. What the hell happened to him. His body looks… Paler, as if he lost a good portion of blood… Did Nami do this!?

“Hey that was a good speech… I learn a new awakened class, can you teach me more classes now?”

“We're having a war meeting right now, as soon as it's over I'll have you teach me then teach you one of the components of the class.”

“No, teach me everything involved in the class or I wont teach you it.”

“That… I will eventually but teaching a single part of the last awakened class to Lance almost knocked me unconscious with how much fatigue points it cost. To teach you all the classes attached to it will take a few days.”

“...All right. Let's get this meeting over with then... I didn't mean I wouldn't teach you... It just sounded like you were trying to cheat me out of classes... Since you're not, I have no problem teaching you.”

I've already eaten but these rations are just going to be there in case someone is hungry. Everyone is already waiting. The shogun had been shown through, probably taking a tour of our fortress before heading here. He might have heard my speech to my men. I see the other expected guest, the old man is chewing on a piece of cloth... I have no idea where he got it from… If I asked him about it, he would probably say. "This bread tastes funny" Nami is with them as well. I call out.

“Hey why was Leon so beat up? You didn't take advantage of him because he had gotten stronger did you?”

“What are you talking about? Why are you acting so familiar with m-. KITE!? WHAT THE DEATH GOD HAPPENED TO YOU!?”

“… I got older. But seriously, what happened with Leon?”

“Why don't you ask one of your generals… I… I don't know what happened.”

Lance steps forward.

“It… It was like he teleported. He was standing there one moment, the next Nami was sent flying through the air. Leon had injured himself by using some type of… The crazy attack almost killed the both of them.”

… Was it related to his new awakened class?… That attack sounds far to dangerous for me to want… Perhaps even if I did learn it. It would never be used… I still want to learn it if I can… Just in case… What am I thinking about right now, we have a meeting to discuss.

“Alright, I've brought you all here to talk about the first assault against the pirates. We're going to attempt to do several things all at the same time, so I'll split you into separate teams for the mission. The first team will be a stealth team involving everyone attempting to free the murine folk. We'll use most of the heavy dexterity class generals to do this.”

Nami interrupts. “I would like to help with this mission. You can count on myself and 6 of my shinobi to help you with this.”

“Alright, You can take Leon, Nargzar and Fast with you. Each is a highly trained combatant, I vouch for their stealth capabilities… I hate to do this but Nami will be the lead on this mission. Leon might be stronger if he sacrifices himself but you have experience leading your team of ninjas. Are you okay with this Leon?”

“Yea I'm totally fine, it is as you said she would be a better leader than me. I don't like leading anyways.”

“Alright, the next group will be another stealth one involving everyone who can turn themselves into a smaller creature. We're going to try and bypass several of their defenses and strike at the head of the pirates. This group will consist of the bulk of my pets and the only general with the druid class. Sock, Pokodo, Morpheus, Red and Swift. I would like to bring more but then we risk being caught up in fights and give our position away before we make it to the leader.”

I look around the room. Everyone is focused intently on me now. Not a single ounce of fear shows in their eyes… I hope they won't notice the fear I have over this mission… So many things can go wrong. I proceed to the next group.

“Lance, you and some of the more experienced ship controlling generals will start a hit and run attack against the pirates to draw out some of their ships. We'll only send in 1-2 small ships so they wont attack with there full force. Even if they do, our ships can outpace them now. If you feel you are getting overwhelmed, just flee during that point. You won't have the help of the black turtles or one of the black swords during this fight, so fight cautiously.”

No one dares talk now. Leon had only talked because I asked him a question directly… This calm expression with the undertones of determination is… Strangely terrifying. Every one of these people are ready to die for this cause… That is the terrifying part. I start to talk about the next group.

“Once the portion of ships leave that are going to attack. It will mean the majority of the pirates on stand bye have left the docks. At this point, we'll start our sneak attack against the bulk of their ships with our black turtles who have remained hidden underwater this entire time. Shikki and Trice, this is on you. Try to destroy the bulk of their ships then retreat before your black turtles get sunk. This might be the most important mission, if we can't sink enough ships we'll be chased down and destroyed. They'll be able to bring the bulk of their army to the ninja island and force a fight. If this happens we'll surely lose the war defending them.”

I look at them both, Shikki and Trice have the same look on their faces. One of having a mission they must succeed on accomplishing. I go to the next group.

“With the numbers split this would be the best time to assault a side of the cluster of islands with the bulk of our army. Overwhelming them on one of their shores as more of their men continuously rush in to try and stop you as this group mows them down… This mission will be the bloodiest… I don't know which generals have the stomach for this, you're the ones who are going to kill the largest number of people this day… I would like a larger number of generals with this group so when things get too risky you can call for retreat faster.”

We only have one more group to discuss. I need to tell my other men what to do who have their own missions as well after that.

“The last troop. This will be the air force. I'll do some scouting beforehand and give you a target to attack Zergnar. We need to destroy their food supply. If we can starve them out of the will to fight we might be able to win this war in a single night. Zergnar… This is another important mission, you must succeed at all costs. Each troop will be given a basket of corrosive poison to eat away the building and another basket of a liquid that catches fire easily or a torch. Use the corrosive poison to eat through the building then the liquid and torches to start a fire.”

Zergnar tenses up. He has the most important mission to take, any misstep can end in a much longer, more drawn out war. I go over the two remaining members of this plan that are absolutely necessary for the plan to succeed.

“So, I left two of you out. Darkclaw and Purple… Purple, you are to try and remain in flying distance of the biggest portion of generals. Everyone on the islands will be in your range to connect to. You can keep all my other generals besides Lance who is luring away the ships. You will keep me in contact with Shikki, Gargarz, Trice, Nami, Zergnar and Leaf. We should see if you can link us all together right now.”

I feel us connect… That is good, I was hoping Zergnar wouldn't ruin our ability to be linked. Being linked with 6 people is hard for Purple to do, it also goes off the intelligence of the person I think. I say mentally.

“You can unlink us now Purple.”

The final person needs to be given a command.

“Darkclaw… You mission is to fly around and cause panic. Just the sight of a dragon would be enough to scare some men into panicking. Try to burn as many buildings as you can with your breath but don't be too reckless. If they start attacking you, retreat back to the ships to help with them if they need it… Now… Does anyone have any questions?”

… They don't respond. I'll work on the details of the plan next. Other than that, I consider this to be a successful war meeting.