Day 26(Continued):
Ruto gaggled as he looked at the screen in front of him.
Of all time for his "rank up" or "evolution" to come, it was now?
He used his shaky arms to push himself up and stared at the screen.
It was a better help than anything else, though.
He chose Yes.
[Your rank-up will happen next time you sleep! Good Luck.]
Ruto stared at the screen in front of him. "You're a goddamn troll, you know that?" he said, and at the same time, felt helpless. He looked at his HP and cringed. It was at a low of 29, the lowest he had ever gotten in this new world. Whatever speed and angle he had struck that tree branch with and the subsequent bounces he suffered, it had been almost too much for his body to handle.
Hell, it was a miracle he was in one piece!
Not to mention, he was almost eaten.
That would have been a new experience, though one he didn't want to know about.
He muttered darkly. It would have been better, he mused sarcastically, if he could just knock himself out -.
...
Knock himself out?
He looked at the nearest tree. He had only 29 hp... could he do it?
'I mean, if I am right now, I can't do anything. Hell, I don't think I could even lift that broken dagger there,' he thought as he stared at the uselessly broken and rusty dagger. 'But if I evolve -rank up- whatever, right now, then ... it is possible for me to fight some of them off?'
The birds, who were enjoying their lunch meals, were treated to an unusual sight of an imp running headfirst into a tree.
It was only for a moment, but Ruto blacked out into unconsciousness.
The birds were then treated to the very same imp change before their very eyes.
The imp's red skin expanded as if a balloon (a concept that birds have yet to acknowledge or know) was growing inside him.
They became uneasy as mana began to leak out of the body like tendrils.
Scratch that.
The better explanation would be that it looked like octopus tentacles, often seen in kinky Japanese hentai.
Except blurry, ethereal, and generally not so threatening looking.
However, they did exert pressure upon the entire area.
They lingered there, moving very softly as if they were moving along with the wind.
Then they turned on their own body.
They struck at the imp body with vengeance, but no blood was spilled.
Screens popped up all over Ruto's face in big, flashing red.
[ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]
[Conflicting Commands! Conflicting Commands!]
[ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]
But Ruto was not awake to see it.
[ABORT PROCESS! ABORT PROCESS!
Yes or No?]
But he was not awake to press it.
[LACK OF INPUT. PROTOCOL RESET ACTIVE]
[COMMAND CONFLICT: CASE RankUp & CASE PROTOCOL RESET]
[COMMAND CORRUPTION DETECTED! PROTOCOL CLEANSING AC-]
Ruto's imp body began to fizz out like an interrupted or corrupted video. All screens, which would have overwhelmed a normal individual, suddenly stopped flashing red and shrank back.
A single black screen came out in their stead.
[...Dumbasses, why do I have to fix the Law Department's errors?]
Another screen popped up, but unlike the black screen, this screen was pink.
[It's not our fault that the Logic Center decided to capoot from the concussion!]
[And look what happened.]
A grey screen popped up.
[Can we fix this already?]
[...Law Department, this is your issue. Why aren't you even attempting to fix this?]
[We're a derivative of the Logic Center. Without it, we can't do much.]
[Idiot boss. Of all things to do, he slams his head into a tree?! Ugh. I don't get paid enough to do this.]
The pink screen "giggled," shaking its screen up and down in a vibrating fashion. [You just called yourself an idiot. We don't even get paid. We're just part of the original unconsciousness, the cogs that run the machine.]
[...Shut up. You're too talkative.]
Then the screens disappeared.
[Command Input. Override Successful. HELPER Protocol has been activated.]
[File Corruption: ... 4.612%. Teacher[Neutral] has been corrupted; its buffs and debuffs are no longer accessible. STR has been increased by half. INT has been decreased by a quarter.]
[Case RankUp has been stabilized. Protocol Reset has been deactivated.]
[RankUp in progress. Actualizing Inner World to provide safety.]
Ruto's mana, which had been filled back up to roughly two-thirds of the full reserve, dipped back to near zero.
[Time Limit: 1 minute.]
And then the world roared as a violation of the very laws of nature had been overturned.
Ruto's eyes shot open, and he gasped.
And then became confused.
He had just run straight into a tree, so why doesn't his forehead hurt?
He sat up and looked around in mounting confusion.
The place he was in now was not the forest he had come to call home.
No... It was Konoha.
His first home.
But it was different. He could see the walls. He could see the mountain. But the walls had nothing within them, not a single building or person. The mountain didn't have a face. And the sky was filled with 1's and 0's.
"Wha-?"
And then it was over.
Ruto gasped, this time in pain, and shot up straight.
Instead of his forehead hurting, his entire body screamed in agony.
"WHAT THE FUCKKKK!" he shouted as pain wracked through the nerves of his body.
Then it ceased to be, as if it didn't exist in the first place.
He blinked and shakily rose, more tired from the constant confusion he had been feeling than any physical fatigue.
And then he looked at himself.
He grinned.
His skin was no longer red. It was grey now.
He also had actual hair. They were long and fell to either side of his face in their red glory.
He was taller.
He felt stronger.
And dumber.
He frowned.
Why did he feel dumber?
He shook it off and looked over himself.
His legs were much taller in proportion to his body size than they had previously been. He stood much taller than he had before, which was also a plus.
[Congratulations! You have Ranked Up!
Status Update:
+20 HP
+5 STR
x2 STR
+10 END
+5 AGI
+29 Spirit
+11 Magic
+20 Power
Species changed to [Troll] due to:
[Orc Slayer]
[Forestkin]
[Humanoid Lineage]
Racial Traits:
Beast Slaying(Passive): +20% EXP for Beast killing
Troll Blood(Passive): +10% HP Regeneration in Melee Combat]
Ping!
[You no longer feel too much pressure! Depression has been reduced to [Stressed], a trait with no suicidal tendency]
Ping!
[You have lost [Fairy Flying] due to lack of Fairykin!]
"Sweet," Ruto said as he got up. And then he read the last message. "Not so sweet."
It was then that he recognized something about his head.
His nose and his teeth.
The former was long. Like his imp self had some long nose, but this nose? It was almost half as long as his face!
The latter was just ridiculous.
He now had tusks, and these weren't ornamental. They were strong. He tugged on them, and they didn't even bend as teeth would.
... Were these things part of his skull?! As in actual part, not like teeth?
He gave another tug.
Probably.
Damn.
Their strength and durability aside, these were sharp. If he charged into someone with these, he could probably pierce most leather armor.
Ping!
New Skill!
Charge (LvL 1)
Slam into them! Bash into them! Run into them!
*For two seconds, you charge towards your target.
*-50% DEX during Charge duration.
*+(STR/2 + Power/2) added as additional attack. If no additional attack, calculate damage as is.
*-(target's Power - your Power) self damage.
*+(your STR - target's END)% chance of stunning.
Well, that was new. Thinking up a skill.
Then another thought struck him.
The colony!
He looked up.
The sun was still in the same position as before.
He could still help!
He ran forward.
...
...
And then came back, blushing a storm.
He stripped the orc of its clothes -a boy, he realized by the meaty dick he found and quickly crushed- and wore it.
It stunk.
With teary eyes, bloody feet, and clothes that covered his body, he ran back towards the colony.
When he had arrived back at his colony, most of the imps had already been taken away. There were one or two orcs left, and they were feasting on the unwanted imps.
Ruto narrowed his eyes.
He grabbed a rock and chucked it at the nearest orc. The rock flew fast and crossed the distance in the blink of an eye. It struck the orc at the back of the head with a crack!
-15! Critical Strike!
Ruto raised an eyebrow. "Oh, nice," he muttered even as the two orcs turned to him.
He gave them the middle finger and ran the opposite way, snagging a thick tree branch on the way.
The orcs chased after him, two in total; the third was lying where he had been struck in the head, bleeding out.
Ruto looked over his shoulder for a split second before he had to duck under the tree branches and then rotated around a thick tree trunk.
Then just as the orcs were about to move around the tree trunk, one per side, he jumped out of the bushes with his branch in hand and [Charged]. He slammed into the orc, and with the momentum of his slam, stabbed him.
-30
-33 [Charge]
3% chance of Stunning ... no Stun!
0 self-damage
The orc stumbled backward and tripped. He fell on the ground, and Ruto fell on top of him. Without mercy, Ruto smashed his fists into the orc's face with all the strength he could produce in one burst, forgoing a steady stream of attacks he could have produced instead.
The blow connected with the orc's nose and cracked whatever bone they had.
-13! Critical Strike!
It was only then that the orc died.
'30, 33, and 13. A total of 76 hp. That's a little less health than I have,' Ruto thought before he jumped away from the orc, grabbing the rusty dagger it had in its right hand.
Just as the other orc came around, Ruto jumped out again, this time with a knife in hand.
The orc, in his surprise, fumbled with pulling its shortsword out of its sheath. By the time he drew it halfway, Ruto was already upon him with another [Charge] and stab.
-26
-33 [Charge]
0% chance of Stunning ... no Stun!
2 self-damage
Ruto gritted his teeth. 'Stupid of me!' he hissed mentally as his body screamed in protest. While he had evolved less than an hour ago, it did not mean he had healed. In fact, his body was only slightly better because he had evolved. And then he had taken that body that should be resting to battle.
Yes, very stupid of him.
He glanced at his HP for a split second. [13/81.5]
Soooo fucking close...!
Ruto didn't stop fighting even when his mind was clicking away the calculations. His hand reached out and pierced through the orc's eyes, blinding him. Then he stabbed the orc in the eye.
The orc twitched before it died.
With a sigh, he stole the shortsword as well.
[2 Orc Grunts slain! Rusty Iron Dagger and Rusty Iron Shortsword looted!]
New Skill!
Blade Weaponry (LvL 1) (Passive)
Makes stabbing and slashing easier.
*+5% damage with any forms of blades with each LvL of this skill.
*+(Power/10) damage added to all blade damage.
New Skill!
Ambush (LvL 1)
Sneaky Beaky Like
*+(your WIS/5 + your INT/5 + your AGI/3 - target WIS/10 - target INT/10 - target AGI/5)% of Stunning target for (skill LvL/10) seconds. If the stun duration is 1 second, then the duration is rounded up.
*May cause misunderstandings with bystanders.
He got up and stumbled backward.
He gasped for breath for a bit. This was his first close-quarter combat in a while. His body was also not in good shape. How messed up his situation was...
He grunted as he headed back towards the colony for the second time that day. Moving through the forest while [Listening] and looking out for any possible threats, his mind was working out what he was going to do.
The third orc, which he had struck with a rock, hadn't chased him. Was the orc dead? Was it alive but dying? Was it being treated by its allies?
He arrived faster than before and saw the orc lying in its own blood, almost dead.
[5/71]
Ruto kicked its head right where he had struck it before, and it died from shock.
[1 Orc Grunt slain!]
New Skill!
Kicking (LvL 1)
Butt-kicking, ass-kicking, face-kicking, dick-kicking, jaw-kicking...
*Use of legs in combat has base damage of +10 + (your Power/10 - target END/10)
*Momentum adds damage +(Current Speed(m/s)/3 + angle(90\180) + AGI/10 + END/10)
*Kicking LvL increases with practice.
He scoffed. Then he turned to the imps in their cage.
They were looking at him in fear. He felt a bit depressed about that, but not as much as before. 'Must be the change kicking in,' he thought, remembering how his -Depressed- had changed into -Stress-. Oh, neither were good, but better -Stress- than -Depressed-.
He waved at them. "It's me. Ruto."
That shocked and froze the remaining imps even as he opened the wooden cage. "Come on, out you go. We don't have much time."
The elder imp was among those in this cage.
"H-How?"
Ruto shrugged. "Beats me, gramps. But we really have to move. There are more orcs outside of the forest, and if their friends don't come back, they'll come here to look for them... Also, where is Shirou?"
The elder imp looked sad. "He ran after you as soon as the orcs struck us. He hasn't come back yet."
Ruto frowned. He'll have to find him. "Alright. Follow me."
The imps flew using their [Fairy Flying], which Ruto was already beginning to miss.
He then moved the colony towards the west, where he had come from initially, hoping that Shirou was there.
As their colony moved onward, they found one or two stragglers who had escaped the attack on their colony, and most of them were awed by Ruto's new evolution and power.
They also learned that their colony was not the only one hit. Apparently, there had been at least three more imp colonies. All were wiped out, with only a handful escaping.
By the end of their 3-hour escape from the orcs, they had 21 imps, 2 fairies, and one Veshta Nerada. These fairies weren't the "nature" or "holy" fairies that Ruto or the Old Imp had initially imagined them to be. Instead of being pure, these were more like pranksters. A "normal" fairy, if one could say.
Normally, Vasta Narada would not have been included in their escape, as they possess a lot of power even in that lower evolution form, and they were also hunters of imps. But it seemed like whatever
Then he heard it.
(End of Chapter)
Character Status by the end of Day 26
Naruto [Imp Ruto] [Troll Ruto]
LvL 20
The Gamer
HP: 81.5 (+1.5 Max HP per day until a month old)(+1.5 HP per hour regen)
Mana: 590 (+5.9 per minute regen)
STR: 42
DEX: 23
AGI: 18
END: 27
INT: 24
WIS: 27
CHA: 8
Unused Points: 134
Spirit: 35
Magic: 24
Power: 24
Traits Taken + Earned:
Ambitious, Quick, Genius, Weak, Cynical, Stressed, Content, Teacher[Neutral] (Unavailable)
Focus:
Growing
Racial Traits:
Beast Slaying (max)
Troll Blood (max)
Skills:
Ambush (LvL 1)
Baiting (LvL 11)
Blade Mastery (LvL 1)
Charging (LvL 2)
Clairvoyance (LvL 1)
Fishing (LvL 2)
Intimidation (LvL 2)
Leadership (LvL 1)
Listening (LvL 6)
Throwing (LvL 7)
Trapping (LvL 9)