Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn

by John Nest

  "I can't agree until you tell me what it is exactly," said Paysan.

  "I want to improve your settlement," said Smoke. "I don't want anything in return. I just want to contribute to your vision. As it has already become a reality today, I just want to help preserve it for your future generation."

  * * * * * *

  The next day, the orange rays of the breaking dawn glistened over the pomegranate leaves in Lagraine Settlement. It was a day like any other, but not for the OrkElves here.

  "It was good seeing you, Faux," Blaise said to Smoke. "I'll tell Cynar of what you're doing."

  "No, you don't need to tell him that I'm helping out OrkElves," said Smoke.

  "Of course not. I was going to tell him that you're the reason my recruitment isn't up to schedule," said Blaise. "But I'm sure Cynar won't mind. You take care of yourself."

  Blaise mounted his dirus wolf and exited the forest patch.

  "Now, where to start?" said Smoke out loud.

  He thought about improving their walls, but decided not to. It served its purpose of defending them against the sand cheetahs. He also felt that it could just trigger the curiosity of the Orks if they saw their improved walls.

  Due to this, he concentrated on improving their homes instead. Realizing that there were several families here, Smoke thought that it would be better to make all of them individual houses. Unlike what he did for the OrkElves in Souer Settlement.

  He counted a total of thirty families, and immediately started working on all of their homes. He made medium-sized clay houses, two stories high. Each house had four rooms with a large living room.

  It took him almost twelve hours to finish. As the Zectas sun was about to set, Smoke made his main attraction for the children. He created a large spiral slide for the bigger kids, and a short straight slide for the toddlers.

  As soon as he finished, he received what he was hoping, for a notification window.

  + Ability Advanced: Earth Manipulation

  (Active)

  Level: Master Level 1

  Experience: (0/100,000,000)

  You've reached the Master zone of this ability.

  Effect: Allows you to manipulate all of the earth in Zectas, except for the land of Gods.

  + Learned: Earth Manipulation II - Animate

  (Active)

  Effect: Allows the caster to encode instructions for motions, behaviors, and conditions on the caster's creations.

  Notes:

  > Consumes 10,000 MP per use

  > Caster needs to add additional MP for duration

  > Costs 500 MP/second of duration

  > It takes 600 seconds for ability to cooldown

  > Ability is canceled when the earth object is destroyed

  > Maximum range from caster to object must be at most 20 meters

  > Animated objects remain animated as long as the embedded MP lasts

  'Finally, I did it,' thought Smoke.

  Then, an unexpected window popped up.

  + Intimacy with Paysan and the other Settlers of Lagraine have risen to 'Trusted Friend'

  Paysan then led the OrkElves towards Smoke.

  "Thank you so much, Faux," said Paysan. "I've heard of the home you built for Esper and Colere, but this is so much better than what I imagined."

  "Mister Faux, can we play in that thing, now?" asked Paysan's daughter, pointing to his special creation specifically for them.

  "Sure, and it's called a slide," said Smoke, gently patting her tiny head.

  "That slide thing of yours is really great," said Paysan. "Seeing the children smiling, really makes me proud of all the hard work I've put into this place."

  "That you did," said Smoke to Paysan. "Anyway, I have to go."

  "Wait, why don't you stay for one more night?" asked Paysan. "We'll cook you some of our best dishes."

  "That sounds really tempting, but I'll have to pass," said Smoke. "Maybe, next time? I'll be sure to come by here again."

  With that, Smoke ran towards the outskirts of the pomegranate forest. There, he used his Cunning of the Dire Fox to check if there was anyone near him. Sensing no one, Smoke leapt to the sky and glided to Souer Settlement.

  "I need to tell Colere and Esper what to do with all their pomegranates, and I now have a plan on what to make for my video," Smoke said to Igniz, who was still hiding inside his orb compartment.

  * * * * * *

  Smoke sat in front of the large wooden doors in the secluded seminary up in the boondocks. It was the third morning after Flora brought him here.

  EEEEKK TUDUG

  Smoke heard the creaking sound of the large doors opening.

  "Faux, you're here!" exclaimed Flora. "I thought you couldn't make it in time."

  "Gee, thanks for believing in me," said Smoke.

  "Oh, he's really here," said Eleve, who appeared behind the little red-haired HighElf.

  Looking at the two of them, Smoke thought they looked like a lovely picture of a granddaughter and her grandmother, excluding their blunt mouths and hot tempers of course.

  'I wonder if they really are related?' thought Smoke to himself.

  "What are you staring at?" suddenly asked Eleve. "Get on with it."

  Smoke bowed down before her, and went over to where there were plenty of earth.

  "Listen, even if it's you asking, this will be his last chance," Eleve said to Flora. "I'm a firm believer of what I was taught, and that is not to teach those without talent."

  "You really are disrespectful," said Flora. "Did you know that?"

  Eleve guffed.

  "Hey, boy, what in the world are you waiting for?" asked Eleve. "The great gods would return from their place of hiding, just to knock you on the head for making us wait."

  Smoke took in a deep breath and used his Master Level Earth Manipulation. He molded a clay golem, after the image of his metallic golems. However, these ones were stouter.

  "Well, at least he could do something now," said Eleve, unimpressed.

  Then, Smoke used his Animate ability on the clay golem. He gave it a simple command to patrol twenty meters forward, and back again to its original position. The difficult part was setting in the instructions. When he practiced in Souer Settlement, he destroyed a large portion of Esper's wall. Of course, he fixed it before leaving for the seminary.

  "Now, that's something you don't see everyday," said Eleve. "A walking soulless doll. Oh, wait a minute. They do seem vaguely familiar."

  The elderly HighElf clapped her hands, and more than fifty Automaton Iron Knights stepped outside the seminary.

  "Oh, come on, Eleve!" said Flora. "Imagine what he did in that short amount of time? He's now capable of making an Automaton."

  "No, I find it unsatisfactory," said Eleve. "Faux, why don't you create a ring for me. About the same size as the one you saw in Votl City."

  Unaware of Eleve's intention, Smoke obediently followed the elder HighElf's order. He created a circular ring in front of the seminary.

  "It lacks décor and finesse, but this will do," said Eleve. "Now, if that clay golem of yours can defeat one of my Automatons, then I shall allow you to be a student of the Florissant Seminary."

  "Thank you for this opportunity," said Smoke. "But can I have a bit of time to prepare my creation?"

  "Certainly," said Eleve. "Normally, I would tell you to take all the time you need. But I'm afraid that you would actually use the entire day. So, you have ten minutes."

  "That is very generous of you," said Smoke.

  After roughly gauging the strength of the Iron Knights, Smoke concentrated on encoding all of the possible conditions he could add into his golem. He gave his clay creation an additional 240,000 of his MP, allowing it to fight for at most eight minutes.

  "The rules will be the same as the Gagnant Tournament, right?" asked Smoke.

  "Yes, yes. Now, get on with it," said Eleve.

  With his battle strategy ingrained into his clay golem, Smoke raised it up with his Earth Manipulation
and carefully placed it on top of the ring.

  Eleve signaled one of the Iron Knights to step onto the ring as well.

  Two Automatons stood on the ring, emotionless and blankly staring at each other.

  "Begin!" yelled out Eleve.

  At once, her Iron Knight unsheathed its sword, revealing it to be a claymore. It cleanly sliced its blade across Smoke's clay golem.

  However, the blade only entered halfway through and got stuck in the middle of the golem's chest.

  Smoke's clay golem then grabbed the Iron Knight's shoulders. Its hands melted and fused with each other, locking the Iron Knight inside it.

  The clay golem then lifted the Iron Knight off the ground, and slowly walked over to the edge of the ring.

  The Iron Knight struggled to free its claymore from the clay golem's chest, but its effort were futile. There was no stopping the clay golem from completing its programming.

  Emotionless, the clay golem detached its hands and dropped the Iron Knight off the ring. Upon doing so, it completed its objective and crumbled from existence.

  A blue light then flew out from the golem's rubble, and went directly to Smoke, returning all of the unused MP to him.

  CLAP CLAP CLAP

  "That was unexpected," said Eleve, as she continued to do a slow clap.

  "So, how was it? Am I in?" asked Smoke.

  "I am HighElf of my word. From now on, you will be a student of the Florissant Academy," said Eleve.

  "Thanks," said Smoke, lowering his head before Eleve. "I am honored to be under your tutelage, and be trained in the ways of the Earth."

  "Eh? What are you talking about? I'm not an Earth Magi," said Eleve. "I have studied under Magietrois Florissant, and have mastered her secrets of the Flames."

  Chapter Five:

  The Will of the Flames

  Despite having a decent-sized room, Nash still felt cramped inside it. His Zectas game pod took a fourth of the space. Coupled with his newly hanged punching bag and computer table, he barely had enough room to do his stretching exercises.

  'Maybe the garage was a better place for the punching bag,' he thought, while shaking his head in disapproval with himself.

  He stretched out his arms and sat down in front of his computer screen. He clicked on his unedited video of Colere and Esper in Souer Settlement. The two OrkElf leaders were standing next to a large clay tank, filled with floating white membranes of pomegranates.

  "What now?" asked Colere.

  "Well, you remove the floaters completely, then begin pounding the seeds at the bottom," said Nash's voice in his DarkElf character.

  "Alright, you heard the man," Colere said to Esper, and the two of them began removing the floating white membranes.

  "Wait, Esper, can you ask another male OrkElf to take your place?" asked Smoke. "And make sure he looks like Colere."

  "What now?" asked Esper. "Faux, you've been acting strange since you got here. First you have us perform this weird experiment, and now you want me to look for someone who looks like my husband?"

  "Yeah, Faux, you're asking for the impossible," said Colere. "No one is as handsome as me."

  "Oh! Really?" asked Esper. "Wait right here!"

  After a few seconds, Esper returned with an identical-looking OrkElf to Colere. "Faux, his name is Wachs. Don't you think they could pass off as twins?"

  "Definitely!" exclaimed Smoke. "Great job, Esper."

  While fishing out the pomegranate's floating white membranes, Colere kept grumbling to himself. "He doesn't look like me at all."

  "Now, Colere, I want you to call Wachs as Jinggu," began Smoke. "And, Wachs, I want you to call Colere as Sharur. You got that?"

  "Oh, yeah, yeah. I've done that a hundred times," said Wachs. "You're one of those DarkElves who like to play pretend that we're OrkElves named Jinggu and Sharur."

  Wachs paused. "Which am I, again? Sharur, right?"

  "No, you're Jinggu. I'm the one you're suppose to call Sharur," said Colere. "But, Faux, what's this for?What does Jinggu and Sharur mean anyway?"

  "Well, in Wysteria, it means honorable and brave friends who are willing to die for you," said Smoke.

  "Which one? Sharur or Jinggu?" asked Esper.

  "Both," said Smoke.

  "That doesn't make sense," said Colere. "How could they mean both when—"

  "They just do, okay?" said Smoke, exasperated. "Now, please let's just continue with this experiment. I promise, you two won't regret it."

  "Of course, you know we trust you," said Colere. "So, what do we do next?"

  "Oh! You're really one of those DarkElves," interrupted Wachs. "Maybe you want Esper to be called as Sierra?"

  "Now, who's Sierra," asked Colere, intrigued.

  "Oh, it's one of those characters that the Sonstwelters like their OrkElves Mercenaries to be called. The most popular ones are Sharur, Jinggu, and then there's Sierra," explained Wachs. "Well, sometimes they also add another name. I think it was... Adder, yeah, that's it."

  Wachs paused, and turned to Smoke. "Also, there's one more request those DarkElf Sonstwelters make... They usually want us to call them Smoke."

  "Actually, that's not a bad idea," said Smoke. "Why don't you also call me that during this experiment?"

  "Call you what?" asked Colere.

  "Smoke," said Smoke.

  Colere turned to Esper, and she shrugged in response. The burly OrkElf then turned to Wachs. "Is this some Sonstwelter thing?"

  "I don't know, but they really seem to get a kick out of being called Smoke," said Wachs.

  "Fine, Smoke," said Colere. "So, what do you want us to do now?"

  "Right, clear out those floating membranes, and then pound the seeds with these," said Smoke, handing them over-sized clay-pestles.

  "You need to make sure that all of the seeds are completely crushed," said Smoke.

  Colere and Wachs silently obeyed Smoke. They proceeded to smoother the seeds in the bottom of the clay tank. The water turned purple, sticky, and syrupy.

  "How long do we need to do this?" asked Wachs.

  "Until all the seeds are squashed, and ten more minutes after that," said Smoke. He got closer and threw minced medicinal plants into the purple mixture.

  After thirty-minutes, their pompom was ready for tasting. Smoke used his Earth Manipulation to create a functional tap and added it to the end of the tank in advance. He placed one of his clay jars under the tap, and poured himself a jar full of pompom.

  "Here, try this, Sharur," Smoke said to Colere, handing him the jar.

  Colere stared into the purple potion and back to Smoke.

  "Well, here it goes," said Colere, drinking it all in one gulp. "Mm. Ah! That was great, Fau— Smoke. It's really delicious."

  "Doesn't it? I call it, rejuvpots," said Smoke.

  "Why don't you try one, Jinggu?" he said to Wachs, handing him a newly filled jar. "Not only will it restore your Life but your mana as well!"

  "Are you serious?" asked Wachs, he intentionally cut himself on his palm and then drank the rejuvpots. "Whoa! It really did restore my health."

  "Who knew pome—" began Wachs, but Smoke quickly covered the OrkElf's mouth with his hand. "Jinggu, now now. I don't want you tell them what these things came from."

  "Eh? Tell who? It's just us here," said Wachs, staring at Smoke, confused.

  "Anyway, it's enough that we learned how to make this item from the famous OrkElf Alchemist, Esper!" said Smoke. "Too bad that she had to leave Wysteria and head for Sawtorn. I don't know what city she's in, but she promised to come back to Wysteria soon."

  "Wysteria? Are you alright?" Wachs asked Smoke. "You know that we're really near Vo—."

  Smoke shut Wachs up with a gag over the OrkElf's mouth.

  "Now, Sharur, just make sure that you take extra care of those pots," Smoke said to Colere. "They cost about 5,000 zecs each. It sounds expensive, but that's already cheap considering they restore both HP and MP."

  Colere looked confused, but obediently
followed Smoke's lead.

  "Of course, Smoke, I'll get right on that," said Colere. "I'm really going to miss that beautiful Alchemist. I wish she stayed with us a bit longer."

  "Stop it, Sharur, you don't have a chance with her. Did you forget how powerful of a Warrior her husband was?" asked Smoke.