Zectas Volume I: Enigmatic Village of Nanahuatl (40 page)

 

 

Smoke's guess about the Lioumereans' job was wrong. So he asked about the specifics of their job.

 

 

Evidently, this Pathfinder job was a hidden variation of the Ranger job. They focused more on logistics and travel rather than stealthy range attacks. But this did not mean that they couldn't fight well.

 

 

After hearing the perks of the Pathfinder job, Smoke immediately asked if their stag moose could carry a cart, that would hold the rest of the private army. This way they could cut down on the travel time between places.

 

 

"Yeah, these guys are used to dragging heavy load. We just have to find a cart or a carriage to attach to them though."

 

 

Smoke looked to Darius hoping that his well prepared friend would have just what they needed. Darius gave a smile and said that there were some old carriages available.

 

 

"They may need some minor patching up but they should be ready within the day."

 

 

Finishing up with the trivial repairs on the carriages, Darius gave them to Laernea and Gandiva to harness them to their stag moose. To hasten up the process, Smoke helped out in attaching the harnesses.

 

 

"Do these majestic animals have a name?"

 

 

"Mine is called Bilis, while Gandiva's stag moose is called Tulin."

 

 

"Nice names, from now on I consider you guys to be part of our private army too. By the way, Gandiva, can I ask you to follow this route. I've sent the other members of our private army on a gathering mission. We need to have stronger arrows to increase our damage. So they are out hunting towering phasmatodeas."

 

 

"Not a problem at all. I'll definitely catch up to them before they reach the hunting grounds of the towering phasmatodeas."

 

 

"Thanks, Gandiva, and as for you Laernea, I was hoping that you would take me to this certain location. Can you take me there within the day?"

 

 

"I think Bilis and I can get there in a few hours."

 

 

"Great, so let's all meet up here after ten minutes. Darius, thank you for these carriages. You don't know how I've hated traveling long distances. These long distances between places are such a waste of time. If it weren't for acquiring the knowledge within the books, I would've started pulling out my hair."

 

 

"Don't mention it. You know that if I can help I'll do it in a heartbeat. If you ever need anything from me, I'll be there."

 

 

Smoke felt guilty for not telling Darius about finding Giro's secret hiding place. He decided not to tell him since he wasn't sure what Darius' reaction would be.

 

 

"Yup, I know that I can always count on you."

 

 

 

 

Riding on a stag moose drawn carriage was staggering. Smoke felt like he was riding an express train or maybe even faster with all the blurring after images that he saw as they passed them by.

 

 

"This is amazing! How can Bilis turn so quickly like that? It's a good thing this carriage is well built."

 

 

"Well, stag moose have very flexible muscles. That's what enables them to do those sharp turns. If I remember correctly, the carriages built in Nanahuatl are extremely sturdy. They were made for all terrains. If we ever need to cross a river that Bilis can't cross, we can always use this carriage as a boat and have Bilis ride together with us."

 

 

On what should normally take two days to travel was now shortened to a couple of hours by Laernea's and Bilis' abilities.

 

 

Smoke told Laernea to wait by the carriage as he needed to go to this place alone. He double checked if Laernea was following his orders. As soon as he felt that she was staying put. He carried on to the actual destination of Giro's secret lair.

 

 

Following the map's direction led him to the entrance of a forest with a gigantic Montezuma Cypress tree directly in front of him. He tried to feel for some sort of entrance or hidden switch but felt no such thing.

 

 

He decided to try climbing up the tree. The branches were so wide that Smoke could easily stand on them. He felt something in one of the branches that was directly perpendicular to the tree trunk. It was a switch, which opened the hidden doorway that led to a ladder leading downward into the trunk.

 

 

Inside the tree trunk was a hidden cavern. Some form of light stones surrounding the hidden chamber lit up as soon as Smoke entered the room.

 

 

The place was very neat considering that there hasn't been anyone there for the past few hundred years. Giro's secret chamber must have been vacuum sealed because there wasn't a single speck of dust anywhere.

 

 

Hundreds of books were neatly arranged in bookshelves found in the left side of the room, while a desk and a chair were placed in the right.

 

 

On top of the desk were a few pieces of paper and a box containing some basic elemental stones. There was a dew stone, a clay stone, a dim stone, and a bright stone.

 

 

Quickly gathering all of the elemental stones into his backpack window. He started perusing the books and then he remembered that he had Laernea wait outside.

 

 

He collected the books that were on the list that was found on the table. He now had a plan on how to get stronger. Although it would still maybe take him at least two weeks or maybe three.

 

 

Smoke asked Laernea to take him to a different location. He needed to do some monster hunting of his own. The pieces of paper found on top of the desk where lists of books sorted out by levels. He took the list entitled 'basic ability tomes'. He was a strong believer of creating strong foundations before proceeding to the next stage.

 

 

The tomes on the 'basics' list were entitled, "Water Manipulation", "Earth Manipulation", "Item Transmutation", "Targeted Teleportation", and "Self Gravity Control". He found that all these 'basic' abilities were not so basic at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each one of the ability tomes had an affinity requirement. All of them was beyond Smoke's current level which was still at 74.

 

 

Even if he did have the required level, there was still a problem with the Intelligence requirement, despite all the bonuses that he got from his acquired knowledge, equipments, and title, his Intelligence stat was still at 42. He tried checking his affinity's window.

 

 

 

 

At the moment, Fire was his only decent affinity. This is all thanks to his symbiote Igniz. He noticed that even though he only used the spark stone during the battle with the murlocks and lamias he still managed to gain .01% of the Lightning affinity. He then came to the conclusion that affinities can be gained through constant usage of an element.

 

 

Informatively, there was a footnote at the end of the 'basics' list indicating that there were certain items that can increase affinities. Most of these items would come from epic item drops from a boss mob.

 

 

Luckily, Giro indicated the location of such an item. It belonged to the monster boss called 'Cologus', the leader of the gargantuan flying lemurs. His item drops included, Cologus' Hard leather Armor, Cologus' War Belt, and an epic item drop called Cologus' Hooded Cloak.

 

 

The leather armor and war belt each gave +50 Strength and increased Earth affinity to 30%. While the hooded cloak gave +20 Strength, +20 Dexterity, 20% Earth affinity, 20% Wind affinity, and the ability to glide.

 

 

Smoke carefully went out of Giro's secret hideout and headed towards the spot where he left Laernea. He briskly told her that they needed to make one more stop but this time it was a bit further about twice the distance that they've traveled now.

 

 

"That's not a problem at all, Bilis wasn't running at full speed when we came here."

 

 

Laernea wasn't kidding when she said that Bilis had a faster speed. In Smoke's perspective everything was a blur, they must have been traveling at 200kph. Igniz sat still on Smoke's lap, afraid of the dizzying speed. Smoke thought that this must be what it would feel like to ride Japan's Maglev train.

 

 

At no time at all, they arrived at the foot of Mount Gliseloc the home of the gargantuan flying lemurs. Smoke told Laernea to head home without him. He also told her to wait for Sierra's return and ask her if she wants to join him.

 

 

Now that he only had Igniz for company, he felt his senses heightened. He was here alone on a far off place, about to face the swarms of monsters that he's never faced before.

 

 

 

 

It took two days for Sierra to go back online again. She thought, Smoke must have a pretty good reason why he asked her to do this favor.

 

 

She sent a message to Smoke, telling him that something important came up at the Diner and that it needed for her to be there personally. Smoke immediately made a call to Sierra.

 

 

"Hi, I'm really sorry about what happened during our last meeting. I didn't mean to sound like I didn't want you around. Of course I want you to be here with me. It's just that I honestly thought that the most efficient and expedient way of dealing with the Maneator was to follow this plan. But seeing as that you didn't agree with it, I've sent Laernea there to get you. So, if you want to join me here in Mount Gliseloc, I'd be happy to have you here. I've sent you the coordinates of my location."

 

 

"You’re where now? Let me check my map to see where you are exactly, also who is Laernea again?"

 

 

"Oh, she's one of the newest members of our private army. She's a Lioumerean and she has this amazing stag moose that can run really really really fast. You've got to try it."

 

 

"Okay, I'll think about giving it a try later. But for now I'll have to decline your offer about joining you in... Wait, what?! I just saw your location in the map and you're too far away. How in the world did you get that far in just two days?"

 

 

"Like I said, take a ride on Laernea's carriage and you'll see what I'm talking about... Are you sure you don't want to join me? I hope you won't get busy again. I'm really happy that you're here with me playing Zectas. Although, we are technically apart at the moment. Well, I hope you know what I mean."

 

 

"Yeah, I think I do. You better get back to whatever it is you were doing there in Mount Gliseloc. I'll check on Sharanga's progress as well."

 

 

Sierra found Sharanga's workshop. Blueprints were scattered everywhere. There were also small scale models of the traps that she had been planning on. Sierra found her to be really hard working and dedicated. The two attributes in a person that she strongly admires.

 

 

"Hi, I'm sorry if I interrupted you. I'm here to help out with the trap."

 

 

Sharanga immediately gave a bow.