Zectas Book II: Heraldic City of Coatl (8 page)

 

 

"Sir Ilad, it would be my great pleasure to give you these figurines for free. All I ask is you win the championship."

 

 

+ Received complete set of ‘Coatl city's 5th Swordsman To Knight finalists'.

 

 

"Thank you so much! I'm sure these will serve as my good luck charm and make me win the championship. Be that as it may, I'm afraid that you may not like what you see in the tournament."

 

 

"Huh? What do you mean?"

 

 

"You'll see it when I fight against Sagen."

 

 

"Why? What did he do?"

 

 

Smoke's pitiful face instantly changed into a dark murderous killer.

 

 

"He robbed my brother of his honor and rightful title and now it's time for him to pay the price."

 

 

The female Gnome shuddered in fear as she watched Smoke walk away. She thought that she was lucky she gave him those figurines. Kort feared what he would have done otherwise.

 

 

Smoke left and went to buy the equipment that he needed in preparation for the finals and his grudge match against Sagen.

 

 

                            

 

 

 

 

The finals for the Swordsman to Knight Tournament was still a week away. Giving Smoke plenty of time to prepare. He would often ask Madam Dawny for advice on how to continue his training and preparation.

 

 

While waiting for the Lioumereans' arrival in Madam Dawny's farm. Smoke thought to enhance his common gladius and basic leather armor.

 

 

For the basic leather armor he chose the cheapest tower shields with the highest defense, he bought four of them. He used the shields as fusion ingredients.

 

 

With his 'Earth Manipulation', he created the transmutation circle that was specific for increasing defense.

 

 

====

 

+ Transmutation Completed:

 

 

  Result: A strengthened leather-shielded armor

 

  Effects:

 

    Defense: + 500

 

    Durability: + 400

 

    Weight: Increased by 50%

 

    Agility: -50

 

====

 

 

Smoke's experimentation on his 'Item Transmutation' ability, indicated that if he used the same base material the next results were negligible. There were even times where in it would have a worse result than the previous transmutation.

 

 

This made him decide to only use throw away items to raise his 'Item Transmutation' and to only one transmutation on expensive items.

 

 

For his gladius he bought four flamberges. He was hoping that the four pieces of two-handed swords would greatly enhance the gladius' attack.

 

 

Smoke modified the previous casting circle and tweaked it to focus on offense.

 

 

 

 

Both transmutations resulted with negative effects but Smoke was still satisfied with the results. His old equipment were now stronger and deadlier.

 

 

With the Lioumereans' delayed arrival, Smoke thought he could unleash all of his pent up anger on Sagen with his training.

 

 

Sagen had lied about his age in AUTOMATA. Smoke was sure that he couldn't trick the gamepod but with his influence he could easily procure fake birth certificates claiming that he was still 17.

 

 

That bastard not only cheated Seth but everyone in AUTOMATA. He was gonna make him pay. Smoke had created a square wall to hide his secret training sessions.

 

 

Instead of calming down, his anger only increased. He was aiming for the training dummy he crafted inside the wall with an 'Exploding Strike' when he accidentally blew up one of the walls instead.

 

 

Laernea and Gandiva stood still as they were paralyzed at the sight of their leader. They had never seen him so angry before.

 

 

Gandiva, the tigress Lioumerean, was the one who broke the silence.

 

 

"Um, what happened? Did someone die? How is everyone? I hope they are okay. Please let them be okay."

 

 

Steam was rising out of Smoke. It looked as if his whole body was covered in dark purple fire. Igniz's energy responded to his strong, vehement emotions by melding with his mana and dispensing out some sort of flame aura.

 

 

It took a few more seconds for Smoke to recognize Gandiva and Laernea. His temperature finally started to cool down. He didn't know what he had just done. All he knew was that debris and rubble were everywhere.

 

 

Smoke decided to collapse the whole square building and to rebuild a new one when he decides to train. He also noticed that Gandiva and Laernea were still apprehensive when he went near them.

 

 

"Hey, I'm sorry if I scared you. I didn't know what came over me. I just felt like my whole body would explode if just stayed still, and from the damage that I caused I think it did."

 

 

Laernea, the lioness Lioumerean, was still clearly afraid of Smoke but she still wanted to console him nonetheless. This rampaging scene was familiar to the Lioumereans.

 

 

"Can you tell us what really happened? What could have irked you to become like this?"

 

 

Their DarkElf liege stared on the ground and fell silent. They had not seen his fight with the Maneator but since that time Smoke would have flashes of going berserk. He had lost himself to his wrath.

 

 

Laernea continued on, she felt that Smoke was slowly regaining his senses. The fierce killing aura that he was emitting was slowly fading away.

 

 

"Gandiva and I used to be really angry individuals. We would pick a fight with anyone. I felt that if I wasn't fighting the rage would consume me from inside."

 

 

Gandiva pulled Laernea in tighter and together they slowly stepped closer to Smoke. The Lioumereans gave him a hug. Smoke felt ashamed of what he had just done.

 

 

This maybe virtual reality but his overcharged emotions were all real. He thought that this isn't something his family would want him to be doing. Yet, something inside him was burning. He agreed with what Laernea said, if he didn't let his fury out, he felt that he would be swallowed whole.

 

 

"I'm... Just really frustrated with a certain individual. His name is Sagen, he is the northern district's finalist. He dishonored my brother. He didn't only hurt him physically he also harmed him emotionally. That bastard, Sagen, he even brought his thugs and they ganged up on my brother. When it comes to my family, I don't care if I turn into a demon, as long as I'll be able to defend them and give them justice."

 

 

"That makes sense! I would probably do the same if anyone were to mess with Laernea and you, and of course the rest of our team."

 

 

Gandiva's usual playful and energetic nature eased Smoke's tension and lightened his mood a little. She continued on to explain what calmed them.

 

 

"I think the reason why Laernea and I were so angry before was because our parents took us out of our village ,'Felin Platerres', and abandoned us in the outskirts of Centeo city. We were only about eight years old then. We couldn't understand why they would pluck us out of our peaceful valley. I guess we must have done something really bad for our parents to throw us away. Still, we wanted to return. We thought that our village was somewhere south. So, we decided to travel southward and came across the sternest looking Human you could imagine, Madam Dawny."

 

 

Gandiva was smiling as she was remembering her childhood. Smoke thought that she should have been sad rather than happy, after all they had been abandoned by their own parents but he decided to listen on quietly.

 

 

"We were stealing from a food stall when she caught us red-handed. With one look she understood that we were homeless. We just learned this later on, that she wanted to take care of us herself, but she couldn't due to the fact that she was still an active adventurer. She made us tell her the other places where we shoplifted from. One by one, we went back and she paid for the stuff that we stole. She also made us apologize to the owners."

 

 

Laernea was also smiling as Gandiva was telling the story of their childhood. She continued where Gandiva had left off.

 

 

"Madam Dawny scared us, by saying that she knew of a place where little trouble makers like us belonged to. We were terrified because she kept on a stern and serious face. She continued to take us southward. We originally planned to escape as soon as she left us in this 'reformation center' that she spoke of. She left us at the entrance of Nanahuatl village. She told us that we could either leave or try the life inside the village. We decided to stay, since we felt that we didn't have a place we belonged to anyway. We kept on doing our usual petty thefts and people got angry but they never locked us up or kicked us out of the village. They just waited for us to settle down. I remember that I finally felt at home in Nanahuatl was when master Darius gave us a purpose and treated us like we were his own family."

 

 

This time, Gandiva added in some of her thoughts.

 

 

"Master Darius taught us how to read, write, fish. Heck, we even learned how to cook some decent meals from him. We kept on asking him to teach us how to fight but he never did. Not until we told him that we wanted to fight for your cause. He said that if we had a reason to fight for, then it would be okay to teach us. He also told us that if we were to face the root of the problem, then it is most likely that our anger or anything that might have been upsetting us would disappear. For me, it was the fear of being forgotten. I felt like I was a nobody but when I came to Nanahuatl I knew that my friends and the family that I've made there would remember me even after I'm long gone from this world."

 

 

Smoke was inspired by hearing Darius' advice. Even when they were miles apart, Darius was still helping him. He was glad that Darius taught his students not only how to fight but also how to be helpful and productive members of society.

 

 

                                  

 

 

 

 

Now, that he knew what to do with his anger. He focused on his training once more, this time with a specific goal in mind. He went to the old lady sitting on her porch.

 

 

Madam Dawny was enjoying the afternoon sky, rocking away in her wooden rocking chair. He wanted to ask for more guidance on being a Swordsman.

 

 

"Madam Dawny, I wish you a good day. I see that you're enjoying a quiet morning. I know that it's a bit bothersome but I was wondering if you could share some more of your wisdom. I was thinking that even though healing abilities are mostly associated to acolytes and paladins there should be something similar for Swordsmen right?"

 

 

Madam Dawny just stared at Smoke with a hard stern look. She looked stricter than when she gave him advice on the district tournament. However, he knew that she was real soft inside and continued to match her gaze with a smile.

 

 

"There is such an ability, but I haven't heard of a Swordsman in recent times that decided to acquire it. Its basic requirements are quite high and the ability itself can be called mediocre at best. Do you still want to learn the ability even with all that information?"

 

 

Smoke nodded with a smile. He didn't care if other people found the ability to be useless. All he cared about was that he could use it in the upcoming finals.

 

 

"Yes! Can you please teach me the ability. I'm willing to do anything to learn it."

 

 

"Alright, just do these steps. Go to the central library. Ask for the head librarian. Her name is Madry tell her I sent you. Then you just have to pay for the ability tome 'Life Share'. You do know what an ability tome is right?"

 

 

"Of course. I've used some of those before. Thank you so much for this information. I'll head straight for the central library now."

 

 

"Before you go. I'd like to give you something. In the off chance that Madry might offer you a ridiculous price for the tome. Maybe, you can find some use of this one instead."

 

 

+ Received Ability Tome: Mount Mastery

 

 

"Wow, I didn't think anyone but Darius would just hand out ability tomes."

 

 

"That tome enhances the user's ability to maneuver and fight on top of a mount. There were different variations of this ability that would enable the other jobs to get a mount. Like the Pathfinder's 'Beast Tamer(Mount)', the Warrior's 'Mounted Warrior' and the Druid's 'Animal Whisper'. Nevertheless, it is the Knight's 'Mount Mastery' that is the easiest to acquire. In mounted form, a person would need a longer weapon to increase his range. Hence, making most Knights take up the spear or the glaive. Go ahead and acquire the ability."

 

 

+ Consumed 'Mount Mastery' tome.

 

 

 

 

Madam Dawny eyebrows met as she saw Smoke consume a Knight only ability tome. Although, this ability was readily available from the time that a player gets the job of a Knight hence making it a junk ability tome.