We kept going soon after that, mostly encountering titans moving alone in intervals. After transforming next two titans into [Superhuman Domingos (F)], and then into [Tightrope Walking Funan Bros (F-)], we ended up with five more members.
The group now consisted of eleven members. Darios and Maxwell were the ones that mainly helped the newcomers. Maxwell and Mike, and occasionally Dante would show their support if the person was in a worse than expected mental state. Like with the last transformed, Charles, who had fallen in psychotic episode. I didn’t know what had happened before he got transformed to a titan, but whatever it was, it was traumatic enough to cause the man enough distress that he tried to kill himself. We had to restrain him before he calmed down and came to his senses.
There was Wilhelm, in the body of one of the superhuman domingos, who appeared to be stoic man at a glance, yet turned out to be a great mediator. He was calmest of the five that recently joined us, and had a knack for soothing others’ panic.
The next to join us was Daz. The man had barely said a word after coming to his senses. He simply followed us along. The only time he showed a proper expression was of shock when he first saw a titan turning into a human.
Martin was complete opposite of Daz. He was a charismatic man who made a great effort in getting to know the rest of us and to lighten up the mood.
Sarah was a woman with an observant gaze. She was quick to notice things around her. She was the one to rush at Charles, grabbing a hand than held a knife, and held him down until his nerves calmed down. Wilhelm took over after that, keeping an eye for the man to not to do anything foolish again. Without her, it might have been too late to stop him from killing himself.
Speaking of Sarah, there was a certain issue she faced. Everyone did, with different bodies and all, but for obvious reasons, she had most trouble with getting used to it.
There was no way for me to change any of then into their original appearance, but there was no reason to make their lives worse by forcing them to stay in the bodies they would not want to live in. Even if I could increase the number of the group much faster otherwise, it would be foolish way to lose any goodwill the existing members might have had developed towards me. If I could get few trustworthy followers, it would be all I could ask for. Quality over quantity, so to speak. If I wanted to lead people that wouldn’t stab me in the back, least I could do was take a good care of them.
Some of Sarah tension eased after learning that she wasn’t trapped in her current vessel. The absurdness of our situation as I explained what she needed to know simply left her in the state of confusion at first. But somewhere along the line, she just gave up trying to understand and accepted it. Seeing the ability in action didn’t leave her with much of a choice.
That wasn’t first time I received that sort of reaction, and I was sure it wouldn’t be last time either.
We took a break. Merry led us to a river nearby. Then we spotted a small deer. Wilhelm hunted it. Martin, Maxwell and Daz skinned it. Dante and Sarah set up a fire. Darios field-dressed it and then cooked it. We stayed there for an hour or two before we began to move again, letting the people get used to each other’s company as we ate together and the people up about their past.
With the expandable rolls running out, I decided to start killing the titans again. Merry and I also had to be more alert now that there was larger group with us. So when the next titan appeared, I didn’t move forward to transform it.
“Um, should we give you some space, boss?” Mike asked with hint of nervousness in his voice. “You’ll be killing that one right?”
“Well, yes. Technically. But actually, Merry's going to kill it.” I replied. Frankly, fighting head on was an unnecessary risk, and however inefficient this attack was, it was better than wasting a good roll on a single titan. “Don’t be worried. It’s going to end in a second.”
Like I said, Merry finished the titan with a single blow. I charged him with aura, and he accelerated towards the titan’s nape, shooting past through it. It took around 5% of my total aura, but it would be fine as long as I could rest in between. And with the pace we were encountering titans, it shouldn’t be an issue. Just in case, I would keep at least half of my aura in reserve. It should be more than enough to deal with anything unexpected here, unless Ymir herself decided to unleash her wrath on me.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Merry’s display certainly impressed and gave a sense of security to the group. Knowing that any titans could be dealt with within seconds helped their anxieties to somewhat settle down.
Next rolls weren’t great, set of same-themed pirated from Buggy’s crew. But I was fine with that as the group kept gradually growing.
[Acrobatic Fuwa #1 (F-)]
[Acrobatic Fuwa #2 (F-)]
[Acrobatic Fuwa #3 (F-)]
[Acrobatic Fuwa #4 (F-)]
Acrobatic Fuwas weren’t that much physically stronger than average human athlete. Characters graded F- were still witching the reach of theoretical limits of human physiques, even if some of them came somewhat close to pushing that line. Of course, as they were pirates in a fantasy world, they could overpower most humans without much struggle. But their true talent lay in, as their name suggested, in their acrobatic skills. They were fast, nimble, and had inhuman sense of balance. And that talent transferred to the transformed humans as well. And when we took a brake to test out their capabilities, it left the group in awe. Similar effect was with the original four, except for Dario for obvious reasons. I was quite curious in how well they would handle the ODM gear in their current state.
As for the superhuman domingos, while their acrobatic skills were lacking, their strength was something else altogether. Even with the bodies of the extras, they were beyond capabilities of what human physique should be able to do.
After that came a lucky roll.
[Cabaji (E-)]
Strength: F+ Agility: E Constitution: E Perception: F+
[Mohji (E-)]
Strength: F+ Agility: E Constitution: E Perception: F+
As I stopped the group for another break, I sat down alongside them, thinking over my options. With Merry watching over the are from above, there was no threat of titans sneaking upon us. So I shifted my attention back to the new marks.
As the first and second mate of Buggy the Clown, Mohji and Cabaji were big deal in East Blue, considering the average strength of its inhabitants. They were same grade as Morgan. They were physically weaker compared to him, but more agile. In a way that was better. They still packed enough power to bring down a titan, and their agility would allow them to outmaneuver the titans, giving the two more flexibility instead of standing and waiting to cut them down. If I choose to manifest them, dealing with titans would be much easier and faster.
But I had a better option. Instead of the manifestation lasting less than a day, I could have power of titans shoulder the energy expenditure, hopefully granting me a subordinate that could fend off by himself among the titan infested territory.
So far, the transformed showed no signs of being critically drained of their life-force. Merry’s theory seemed more valid with each passing second. Despite that the humans in front of me were no longer titans in their appearance, they still had that ability that supplied them with energy.
I wasn’t sure how far that could be pushed. But even if this only worked with the low tiered characters, it would still give me an army of superhumans followers at my disposal.
My choice of who would take those forms were obvious. Using them in the random titans would be risky. And the ones that I trusted most were the initial group of four. Though, Darios would be out. I wanted to know if he could grow stronger, and if he could, it would be foolish to waste the potential of his new body for short-term and small bump of power now, where patience could result much better result. That left Maxwell, Dante and Oliver in the picture. But it wasn’t just my decision to make. The circumstances needed to be taken into account, as well as their compatibility with those characters.
For that, I had gathered the group already consisting of eleven members and explained what I was thinking and asked the tree about their opinions.
“So you’re saying,” Maxwell said. “That I can be raiding unicycle and wielding a sword and the same time?”
“Yes.”
“Sign me up.”
There was no room for argument.
That decided, and the rest coming in agreement that Dante would be taking the form of Mohji, I instructed everyone but Maxwell to move out of the way, as for another manifestation to take place, the current one had to be undone.
Maxwell turned back into his titan form as I dispelled his current vessel. Before turning him into Cabaji though, I did try to get through his mind, see if he retained any consciousness in the titan form. He didn’t. He simply chased after me as a normal titan would. An expected outcome. Still, I wanted to know if there was any side-effects of my ability.
Maxwell took form of Cabaji with all of his glory, with his clothes, a sword, hidden knives, and most important of all, the majestic unicycle that materialized right beneath him. Next was Dante, but Mohji’s form only came with a whip as a weapon.
When Maxwell saw Dante’s new appearance, he began to laugh. “Pffft- oh gosh, what is that awful hairstyle? You look like you belong to a circus, man.”
Dante raised a middle finger at him. “Look into the mirror, fucker. You’re not one to talk.”
“You got a problem with this beauty?” Maxwell proudly moved the unicycle back and forth, barely holding himself from breaking into another fit of laughter. “Dante, my friend, you wish you were half as stylish as me right now.”
“Well boys,” I patted the two on the back, halting their bickering for a moment. “Aren’t you itching for some action? How about we test what you two are capable of with those upgrades?”