Nash made a mental list. A list of people to kill. He realized that they may have different user names in ZECTAS. So he changed his mental list to EVERYONE in ZECTAS.
Nash logged off from his desktop and paced around his room. His room was to small to hold such a fast-pace pacing. He decided to go out for a jog at 2am in the morning.
Nash was trying to run his anger away. Being so angry didn't sit well with him. He kept running and running until he noticed that it was already 5am. He had ran 40km but strangely enough he didn't feel tired at all.
He just felt guilty that he missed his work at the diner and failed to give them any form of notice.
Still bursting with energy from all the anger and the hate inside him. Nash jogged towards the diner. When he got to the diner he spoke with the owner and the cook and explained to them the situation. The situation being that something came up that has riled him up so much that he totally lost control of himself, that was why he didn't notice the time. Seeing as this is the first time that this had happened. The owner and the cook didn't have any problem with it.
Relieved of the fact that the owner wasn't mad at him, he headed home to clean himself up a bit before going to work at the construction site.
His coworkers did their usual bit of assigning him the task of going to the top and expected the usual smile and nod from him. Instead Nash snapped at them saying that they should do their own work. The other construction workers were shocked to hear Nash shouting. He felt the stares of everyone at the construction site. He proceeded to the secluded cement mixer instead trying to get away from everyone.
Nash felt guilty once more. Those guys didn't do anything wrong. Sure they were passing on their jobs to him but he didn't really mind. He loved working at the top of the skyscraper but something in him was definitely off. Staring off into the twirling cement mixer. He thought of ways on how to become stronger in ZECTAS.
"If only I could play 24/7 I could grind that new passive ability: Agility of the Horned Rabbit to increase my dodge rate and attack speed. I don't think that there are a lot of people who has that ability. I haven't seen it in any of the forums."
The possibility that someone else may have discovered the same ability did pass through his mind but it was highly unlikely. Was it a bug that made him start outside of a main city? Was it a special game event? Well what ever the reason maybe he was gonna exploit it.
If after killing 10,000 horned rabbits he gained their ability. Maybe just maybe it would be the same for the rest of the monsters on the field. He wanted to jump right into ZECTAS right away and start killing those armored armadillos.
It took him almost 2 weeks to kill 10,000 horned rabbits then it would most likely take him more than a month to kill 10,000 armored armadillos. Of course this was at the rate of him only playing ZECTAS for 6-8 hours a day.
His train of thought on planning to improve his character always came down to him needing more game time in ZECTAS. Maybe I should quit working at the diner. However the pay was just right for the number of hours that he spent working there. Maybe I should quit working here at the construction site. My pay is definitely lower than the standard rate but it still pays more than the diner.
Nash usually earns around $7,000 a month. This is the minimum amount that he needs in order to pay for the essential expenses and also to save up for the college fund of his 2 younger brothers.
DING DING DING DING DING!
It was finally quitting time at the construction site. Nash grabbed his stuff and dashed off towards the game arcade center. He wanted to ask about the 'potential bonus' that he would get from the insane amount of views on his ZECTAS video feed.
As soon as he reached the building of the Game Arcade he received a text message. ~Nash, I have great news. please come to the office as soon as you can. I would like to tell you the news in person.~
Nash ran up the stairs to the 3rd floor. He took 2 steps at a time wanting to hear the great news ASAP. He knocked on the door.
"Sir, It's me. Can I come in?"
"Come on in Nash, I told you that you don't have to knock when coming in to my office. Sit down sit down."
"Thank you sir. I just got your text."
"Nash my boy, you did it! I had no idea that you were such a comedic genius. Since the launch of ZECTAS almost everyone started making their FAQS and Walkthroughs but you.... Oh you genius you... You thought out of the box. You're the new internet sensation like those cats playing the piano."
Nash smiled and nodded. Deep down inside he just wanted the manager to get on with it and tell him how much he was gonna get. While having these thoughts he felt guilty once more. When did he become all about the money? He shrugged such idle thoughts, all of that didn't matter. What's important is to get the bonus. He has big plans for that bonus after all.
"Well I'm sure you want to ask about the bonus right?"
"Yes sir. I do remember you mentioning something like that before."
"Right, the higher ups are very pleased with all the traffic that you've brought to our site and other associated sites. They told me to give you this and also to tell you to keep up the great work."
Nash reached his hand out and took the check. His smile reached from ear to ear as he saw the figures printed on the check. His bonus for being ridiculed on the net was a dazzling $20,000.00!
This is exactly what He needed in order to proceed with his plan for vengeance. Doing a quick calculation this would almost be 3 month's worth working his 3 jobs. With this he can now fully devote his time to ZECTAS.
"It's really amazing right? This will be a great help to your two brothers' college fund."
Nash felt guilty once more. The reason why he was working so hard in the first place was for his brothers but then something in him convinced him that this was an 'investment'.
After all this was the highest pay check that he has received in his entire life. In this day and age, there are professional gamers all over the world. Surely he could join that 'noble' profession.
"Nash the great news doesn't end with that pay check, the management of ZECTAS Online would like to add your video blog in the official website of ZECTAS. I presumed that you wouldn't have a problem with this and said yes in your behalf."
Most companies would want to monopolize the opportunity of gaining such a unique web content but his manager wasn't like that. Nash was teary eyed. He was so happy that his boss sincerely thought only about his well being. That's right there are still people in this world who are good after all. He almost forgot this simple truth. Somehow all his anger was pacified, but his drive for vengeance is a totally different matter.
"Have you had the chance to visit the official ZECTAS website?"
"Yes sir, I have. I've read the basics and browsed around their forums."
"Good, did you also use their in game trading system as well as their in game auction system?"
"I'm afraid I haven't had the chance to try those out."
"Well you really should because the deal from ZECTAS was that they would pay you in zecs. Of course I know that you can't convert zecs into dollars but only dollars into zecs. You could also use those zecs to buy better equipment and other stuffs in the game right? But the real reason why I agreed on their terms was because I found a simple loop hole."
Nash raised his eyebrows. It wasn't obvious to him what the loop hole was but he was curious to find out.
"There is a way for you to convert zecs into dollars. By using their auction system! You could buy expensive items inside ZECTAS using the zecs in game and then auction those off for real dollars. Simple right?"
Nash couldn't believe how simple it really was. Maybe he was also hindered by the fact that his real experience inside ZECTAS was just fighting the 'training' monsters on the fields.
Nash's meeting with his manager ended. He thanked him again for everything that he has done for him and assured him that he will keep those views in the millions. He thought that if they think his fight with the horned rabbits was funny then they better watch out for his coming fights with the armored armadillos.
Before going home he decided to call the construction site to inform him that he would no longer be working for them. The foreman at the construction was sad to hear this, he was losing his best and cheapest worker after all.
Next he called the owner of the diner to tell him the same news. The owner asked him if it was because of what happened earlier that day. Nash replied with a yes. He then continued to explain that he needed to do this in order for him to move on and grow. The owner understood and wished him the best of luck.
Nash turned on his desktop and decided to check out the trading system and the auction system that his manager mentioned. He used the login information that was given by his manager. In all the excitement the manager failed to mention just how much ZECTAS was planning to pay him for his videos.
He tried looking for his zecs credits as he explored the user interface of the trading and auction system. Finally he saw it. It was in the upper right corner of the screen. He couldn't believe the amount of 10,000,000 zecs displayed on his screen. This must be the fate's way of encouraging him to get his vengeance.
From what he understood in order for you to trade or auction an item. You would need to go to any of the main cities and look for the trade or auction NPC. Once you give them an item there will be a menu that would contain the specifics for the item.
For trading you could input the name of the user and also include a zecs amount if that is what you wanted. You can also easily do this face to face but they made this feature so that you can do asynchronous transactions. Also if the other user is located in another kingdom.
For auction you could indicate the minimum amount of money to be placed as their bid. You could also list an item for auction under zecs or under real money currency and the game would convert the money to their localized monetary equivalent.
All the items that is put up for trade or auction can be viewed from their website. Bidders and traders can also use the website to browse all of the items put up for trade/auction and trade/bid from there as well. All trade/auction actions are immediately reflected to your character in ZECTAS.
As he continued reading about these two systems he thought that there was one crucial thing that was stopping him from utilizing this feature.
"Hmm I guess I can't use it until I enter a main city. Too bad because I don't plan to enter any of the main cities any time soon."
Now that he is officially a professional gamer he needed to utilize the maximum amount of game time he could manage.
Nash researched about a unique sleeping pattern and wanted to try it out. It was called the 'UberMan' sleeping pattern or the Polyphasic sleeping pattern. This sleeping pattern indicated that you would only need to take a 20-minute nap every 4 hours. In other words he would only be sleeping for 2 hours in a day. He decided to use this sleeping pattern from now on.
Smoke opened his eyes and saw the very familiar fountain. He was in Nanahuatl Village once more. This time however he wasn't alone. He saw another familiar scene. It was the old man that greeted him on his first day of playing ZECTAS.
"Why hello again young dark elf. Last time I saw you, you were hastily heading for Coatl City. You left without even saying a proper thank you."
Smoke was confused. Sure he ran immediately towards the village exit but he was sure that he said thanks to the old man. Are the NPCs in this game senile? He would have ignored this old man if his anger wasn't soothed by the abundance of good news.
After all the only targets that deserves the full wrath of his anger was Tristan's party. It would be unwise to channel misdirected anger.
"I'm sorry if I have offended you sir. Thank you again for guiding me on the safe route towards Coatl City."
"You're welcome young dark elf, but I was thinking more along the lines of..."
For dramatic effect the old man opened his palms and slowly reached out to Smoke revealing his bony arms. This old man's body looked liked a skeleton just with skin on it.
"Something to eat perhaps? You see I haven't eaten for..... oh I don't remember how long my last meal was."
Smoke pitied the frail old man. He knew that they were only NPCs but he still felt their hunger. He took out a loaf of bread and gave it to the old man.
"Here sir you can have this. I'm sorry that I didn't notice before that you were this skinny. If I did I would have given you something to eat immediately."
The old man quickly grabbed the loaf of bread and practically swallowed it whole. He looked a contestant in an eating contest. He swallowed that big loaf if bread in less than 5 seconds.
The Old man then drank some water from the fountain. Smoke stood still watching the amazing feat that was just displayed before him.
