Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (23 page)

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It took almost four hours of brainstorming, but their plan was ironed out to all three factions' satisfaction.
Incitant bade farewell to Duke Jeune and Prosjak while pulling Smoke towards the door with him.
"Listen, I'm really happy to be in this campaign with you. I'm sure everyone in the alliance will be excited to see you in action," said Incitant excitedly.
"Same here," replied Smoke cordially. It still felt awkward for him to talk to other Sonstwelters. Especially one he had just met, but he forced himself to keep a realistic facade.
"Congratulations on the great deal with the Duke back there," Smoke quickly added.
"It was a sweet deal, right?" gloated Incitant. "And the other guild leaders only wanted to ask for ten villages. Who cares if Tristan can't handle a city. We shouldn't compare ourselves to someone like him."
"Wait, Tristan finally lost Tonaci?" asked a surprised Smoke. He read rumors about it in the forum, but did not believe that it would actually happen.
"Oh, you haven't heard?" asked Incitant. "Right, I remember that you, Tristan and Amahan had some sort of rivalry going. You were really big when you first started and grabbed a lot of attention."
Smoke only smiled as he couldn't think of an appropriate response.
"Anyway, I think it's time for other people to grab Zectas' attention now," spoke Incitant haughtily. "And having you support us will only sweeten our time in the limelight."
As the Sonstwelter Priest was about to walk away, he turned around to face Smoke. "By the way, nice move. Playing the battle-worn card."
"What do you mean?" asked a confused Smoke.
"You purposely neglected to fix your armor so you'd give a tattered appearance and appeal to the Duke's empathy. You're very sneaky, Smoke. You made it look like you're really fighting for their side," said Incitant and gave him a salute. "I had to rely on this expensive Priest robe for its increased Charm, but I'd say ten villages is well worth it."
Incitant gave Smoke a triumphant smile before he stormed off to inform the other guild leaders in his alliance.
'When I first started? Does he think I'm already washed up?' thought a bothered Smoke as he watched Incitant disappear into the hallway. Although, he didn't feel any animosity from him, he also didn't have any inclination to be close to him either.
Espion, who was there silently listening to everything, spoke out. "Who does he think he is? Just because he rallied a bunch of Sonstwelters. He doesn't even have any idea of what you're really capable of," Espion said to Smoke.
Smoke smiled at his friend. He remembered how Espion would not even follow his command when he first met him and now he was defending him in his place.
"Don't worry about it. Let's just focus on our task at hand," replied Smoke calmly. He felt pacified after he heard Espion's rant.
As the two of them were about to walk away, Prosjak stepped out of the room and called out to them. "Smoke, Espion. Wait up. The Duke wants to see you two."
Once Smoke and Espion was back in the room, they saw a familiar map laid out on a small table in front of the Duke. It was the map of Braucht Hilfe Village.
Duke Jeune spoke in a serious tone. "Smoke, in order to increase our chances for success. I'd like you to take on a life-threatening mission for me. Do you think you'd be up to the task?"
"If it's within my power, then I'll gladly do it," answered Smoke sincerely.
Duke Jeune grabbed Smoke's hand and pleaded. "Will you kill Horrabelle and save my Dukedom?"
Before he could answer, a notification window popped up.
 

"I have never gladly accepted a quest as much as this one," replied Smoke with much gusto.
 

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Since Espion had no ability to fly, Smoke left him in Centzo. He also asked him to investigate Incitant even further and see what else their alliance was up to.
Before gliding back to rendezvous with Sierra and the rest of their strike force, Smoke called her up and informed her of their important assignment.
Immediately, their strategists started to formulate a plan to fulfill this dangerous mission. They were to create several contingency plans in anticipation to Horrabelle's craftiness. They did all this while traveling towards Mount Vorteil.
On the trip back, Smoke was acquiring the knowledge of the books from his Spy. He had Espion scour Centzo's library and received numerous books from him. The top two books he was interested to consume were "Becoming a Duke" and "Centzo's Forgotten Places."
He only had a few seconds left to complete the book entitled "Becoming a Duke" and had a few minutes left on "Centzo's Forgotten Places."
As the progress bar for the book "Becoming a Duke" indicated that it would almost be completed, Smoke decided to land and rest for a while.
Seconds before his feet could touch the ground, an acquired knowledge window popped up.
 

Smoke had been wondering how Tristan was able to become a Duke just over a year into playing Zectas. Although, he had lost his city due to his current campaign.
After acquiring the knowledge, Smoke realized how difficult it was to obtain a Dukedom and even more difficult to maintain.
Any of the three methods would require meticulous planning, a powerful private army and an insane amount of luck in order to pull it off successfully.
He ate a jerky with his remaining free hand and waited for the second book to complete its progress bar. He was drawn to the book entitled "Centzo's Forgotten Places." He felt mesmerized by its title.
A few seconds later, a notification window popped up.
 

He was curious as to what these tourist destinations were exactly, but was surprised to see another notification window pop up.
 

He smiled at the increased stat. His most powerful abilities instantly deplete his mana and an increase in Intelligence not only meant an increase in the maximum mana pool but an increase in the mana regeneration as well.
After confirming the locations on his map, he realized that two of these places were in the opposite direction, but Still Laden was along the way to his private army.
Since Sierra and the attacking force of his private army would still take some time to reach Mount Vorteil, he decided it was okay to do some exploring on his own for a while and headed for Still Laden.
It took Smoke an hour of gliding to reach the location indicated in the book. It was inside a forest with a clearing in its center. A notification window popped up as he descended towards it.
 

As soon as he landed twenty meters away from the clearing, he took out Aral's Lightning Rods and prepared himself for battle. From past experiences, he often encountered powerful monsters inside forest clearings.
However, this one-hundred meter clearing was completely empty. It only had a well trimmed grass. As he had already checked that this was the right place, he found himself confused.
'Something has to be here,' he thought to himself as he stepped towards the center of the clearing.
Suddenly, he felt multiple stab wounds come at him from all directions. He reflexively backed away and found himself bleeding from several wounds. He checked his life bar and it was already at (152,166/197,816 HP).
He activated his Heart of ReenTe and applied some medicinal herbal salve on his wounds. While waiting for his life bar to regenerate, he stared at forest clearing.
He was smiling despite being heavily injured. It simply confirmed that something was there, but he couldn't see anything at all.
Then, it hit him. He activated his "Cunning of the Dire Fox II - Extra Sensory" ability and it consumed 90,000 MP. His eyes turned golden and became that of a dire fox's. He could see the flowing energy in the clearing. He found several knives dangling in the air which formed a dome-like covering around it. He roughly calculated the size of the dome and guessed that it had a radius of twenty meters.
He surmised that those were the weapons that homed in on him and stabbed him earlier. However, his Extra Sensory ability was still at Beginner Level 5 and only had a reach of two and half meters.
Due to this, he still couldn't see what was at the center. He thought about diving directly down towards the center, but realized he would still be damaged by the invisible knives.
'Maybe I could use that?' he wondered to himself and checked his ability window.
 

He checked his mana bar and found that he still had enough to use the Hyper Jump ability and one more Extra Sensory. He hurriedly scaled one of the trees and glided towards the center of the clearing.
Smoke closed his cloak and dove straight down. The moment he felt the knives hit him, he used his Hyper Jump ability, propelling himself forward and left an afterimage of himself.
The invisible knives targeted the afterimage, while he braced himself for the ten meter drop. He opened his cloak just before he hit the ground and instantly activated his Extra Sensory ability.
When his eyes turned golden, he finally saw a small hidden cottage in the center of the clearing. He speedily searched for its door and entered before the knives could target him again.
The moment he stepped inside, he was suspended in the middle of the room. "Whoa! Hey, put me down!" cried out Smoke while wailing with his hands and feet.
"Who are you? And how did you get here?" asked a beautiful HighElf dressed in a long black robe. She had black hair and fair skin.
"My name is Smoke," he babbled out. "I'm on a mission under the orders of Duke Jeune."
While floating in the air, he instantly noticed how young she was. He guessed that he couldn't have been over twenty.
"You don't seem to be lying," replied the young HighElf calmly. "But I am not a subject of Duke Jeune. This place no longer belongs to Centzo."
"I see. I apologize for intruding so abruptly, but I was just running for my life. Those knives you have outside your cottage are really sharp," humbly explained Smoke.
"Yes, they are," she smiled proudly at her creation.
"That reminds me. How did you see beyond my enchantment? You don't look like a powerful Wizard," asked the HighElf teenager while looking up at the floating DarkElf.
"I would be more than happy to answer your question if you could let me down first. I think it will also be much easier to talk," he said with a smile.
THUD
Smoke fell down hard on the wooden floors.
"I gave you my name. Isn't it only proper that you give me yours?" he asked innocently.
"True. It has been so long that I've forgotten my manners," she mumbled to herself before she spoke boldly back to him. "I am honor bound to do so. My name is Magnat Maudit. I am the owner of this... souvenir shop," said the young HighElf.
He immediately offered his hand to her. "A pleasure to meet you."
Magnat turned away from him and asked the same question. "So, how did you see through my enchantment?"
Smoke pondered whether he should tell her the truth. Then, he realized that it would be unwise to trifle with someone as powerful as this young HighElf. After all, She could tell that he was speaking the truth without using a casting circle.
"Oh, that. I have an ability that gives me a dire fox's eyes," he answered honestly.
"And this ability? Does it allow you to see other realms?" she asked curiously. Then her eyes lit up as if she realized something.
"Are you using it now?" she asked in an alarmed voice. Then, she calmed down as quick as she panicked. "Oh. Of course you're not, otherwise you wouldn't be talking this normally."
Magnat then spoke in a threatening manner. "I forbid you to use that ability inside this cottage. Do you understand me?"
Smoke quickly nodded. "Yes. Of course. I swear not to use that ability here."
"Very well. Since it seems like it was just an innocent misunderstanding of you coming here. I will let it slide and allow you to leave," said Magnat and was about to push him out of the door.
"Wait. Can't I buy something from this souvenir shop?" blurted out Smoke as he wanted to see what was inside this hidden cottage.
He quickly scanned the place and found several powerful looking accessories that looked like only high level people could wear. However, the things that caught his attention were the ability tomes neatly stacked on a bookshelf. He could tell they were ability tomes from their special book bindings. He quickly read through the titles and found one that he would like to have, "Fire Avatar".
"Please can't I buy an item here?" pleaded Smoke badly.
"Don't push your luck, DarkElf, I've already allowed you to leave in one piece," said Magnat angrily. She opened the door with a flick of a finger and lifted him up again.
"I shall kill you. The next time you return," she declared flatly.
From her tone, Smoke knew that she was serious. Magnat then sent Smoke swiftly flying out of the cottage and through the forest clearing.
He was slammed hard against a tree and received 20,000 points of damage. He looked back at the empty forest clearing and shuddered.
Posthaste, he glided out of Mystique forest and headed back towards his original destination.
Two more hours of gliding and he finally reached Mount Vorteil. Sierra and the rest of his private army were still on their way and were not scheduled to arrive until tomorrow.
While waiting for them, Smoke thought to prepare a place for them to stay in. He used his Earth Manipulation and created a small house big enough for a three meter Maneator or Tikbalang to walk into. However, he destroyed the earth house as soon as he finished it.
'It is too exposed. I'd have to make a better camouflaged resting place,' thought Smoke and started digging tunnels. He made them wide enough to allow a war elephant to easily fit through. He also made several smaller tunnels to allow air to freely pass through his tunnel.
As he worked on the expanding his tunnels, he was also acquiring the knowledge of the other books Espion gave him. The next set of books he had his sights on were entitled "A Brief History of Centzo", "Centzo and its Natural Resources" and "The Return of the Reptile Republic".
Smoke always made sure to keep himself busy. He trained and improved whatever he could within the given time frame before him.
When he completed the tunnel system, he took out his white metal staff and began his Manatl exercises. With his feet apart, he stood in a relaxed position. He took deep breaths and cleared his mind. He projected a full spherical purple Manatl and held it for as long as he could.
He spent the next four hours training his abilities until he finally decided it was time to call it a day. He logged out of Zectas and promised to be back twelve hours from now, after he took a three hour sleep in the real world.