Zectas Volume I: Enigmatic Village of Nanahuatl (28 page)

 

 

But then he realized that all those jobs focused on Magical Side. He wanted a job that was more on the side of Physical Strength. He thought to himself that he'll  just have to come up with something.

 

 

"Smoke, rise into the stars and witness its magnificence."

 

 

Smoke was still lost in thought about the advance form of the hidden job when he was immediately teleported to outer space.

 

 

He was floating outside the world of ZECTAS. He saw how huge it was. He also noticed that the seas and oceans that divided the continents were not that far apart.

 

 

ZECTAS looked more like the earlier time of Earth. When it still had the super continent called Pangea, except that at the center of the continent there was a big ocean that separated the kingdoms.

 

 

He thought that this must be what they called the great lake. They should have called this the great ocean surrounded by the kingdoms.

 

 

As he was watching ZECTAS he was teleported once again, and he was made to see the galaxies. Stars and planets were passing by like flashes of light.

 

 

A lot of things came to his mind as he saw the marvelous universe. The comets, planets, and the stars. Everything was too much for words that he couldn't describe the emotions that filled his being.

 

 

He felt powerful yet insignificant at the same time. He was but a speck of dust in this infinite universe. But from watching everything he also felt like he had the power to be its protector.

 

 

A bright light flashed and he was instantly teleported back onto the platform inside the hidden room of his cellar.

 

 

"How was the view? Empowering and Humbling, right?"

 

 

Smoke thought that this virtual reality world was too real to be more than just a game, but Darius had sensibly described what he was feeling as he saw the grandeur of the universe.

 

 

"Smoke, it is with great delight that I welcome you into our brotherhood. Our brotherhood of Beggars!"

 

 

 

 

Smoke was astonished at his hidden basic job. He got the hidden job of a Beggar! As he checked out his black modified dexterity armor. It now looked like a black shabby armor. He truly looked like a beggar.

 

 

Even though his armor became tattered, he was still very happy with his job. He could now equip the item drop that he got from the Fecund Lizard Matron, the green dual knives, 'Tails of the Virile and Fecund Lizards'.

 

 

He could also read the books that he couldn't read before because of specific job requirement. The possibilities were boundless.

 

 

In the midst of his excitement, Smoke noticed that there was another placeholder inside the hidden room. He wondered what it was for. His curiosity got the better of him.

 

 

"Darius, what is this placeholder for?"

 

 

"Oh... That is for the sixth family token."

 

 

 

Secrets of Nanahuatl Village

 

 

Filled with uncertainty, Nash finished his last modifications on his eighth video. He had been fiddling with it for quite some time since his last video only got him another check for $10,000.

 

 

His seventh video was about the time when he fought the iron golem and at the end of the video he showed the other players that he had acquired a symbiote, Dark Ember Sprite, Igniz.

 

 

This was Nash's usual plan of enticing his audience since the process of creating a symbiote was not found in any of the forums.

 

 

Unfortunately, his audience got tired of his customary mysterious videos. The appeal of finding out the secret process of gaining a symbiote was gone.

 

 

The reason being that almost no one was able to solve the riddle of his videos. Also when his videos are compared against that of Tristan's and Amahan's, those videos spoon fed the users with a ton of useful information.

 

 

Nash kept tabs on his two rivals. He found that their video posts had some kind of theme.

 

 

 

 

Tristan's latest series of posts were more like a documentary. It was about how he raised his private army to 300 NPCs. He originally started out with just 30 NPCs. They mostly consisted of Wizards, Snipers, Assassins, and Paladins.

 

 

He first visited the Academia’s advance jobs. There, he coerced the NPCs by promising them a hefty salary of 100,000 zecs per month and a bonus depending on their contribution to certain quests. He pointed out that it had to be this high in order to quickly increase the intimacy with the NPC and have a loyalty of above 50+ once they have joined the private army.

 

 

After going on various quests with these 30 NPCs, Tristan had raised their intimacies to 80+. At that range the NPC's salary could be reduced to about 25%. Of course Tristan did no such thing.

 

 

Instead he sent the 30 NPCs to the basic job centers of their respective fields. There he had them pick out at least 10 candidates to join his private army. He also instructed his NPC's to promise them 20,000 zecs per month if they were to join him.

 

 

Tristan, Aurora, and Bones together with the gathered NPCs focused on monster hunts and quests that would rapidly increase the levels of the NPCs with the basic jobs.

 

 

With the places to train plotted out, the NPCs easily got the requirements needed to get their advance jobs. Tristan instructed them to get their advance jobs and assured them a salary of 60,000 zecs per month.

 

 

Because he was the one responsible for increasing their levels their loyalties had also increased to 80% and thus they agreed to the said amount.

 

 

The original 30 NPCs still continued on with their same salary and were inducted as Captains to Tristan's private army.

 

 

From the salaries alone Tristan had an upkeep of 19,200,000 zecs. If you were to include the maintenance of equipments, food, and lodging for his private army, it would sum up to about 30,000,000 zecs a month!

 

 

 

 

 

Amahan and his guild the Decane were still in the newly discovered Northern Kingdom of Aquilomentl. From their last post that displayed the location of the entrance to Aquilomentl, a horde of players from the North came to the said location.

 

 

Amahan's series of video posts were about the strategic locations in Aquilomentl, places where in players would get the most experience and the expensive undead loot.

 

 

Players continued to head to the locations that Amahan had been posting from all three kingdoms of,  Mictaztl (Northern Kingdom), Matotl (North Eastern Kingdom), and Chanmotzl (North Western Kingdom).

 

 

There were guilds that had at least 1,000 of their members join in on the expedition to the north...

 

 

Merchants and Traders quickly seized this opportunity, having various Cooperatives of Merchants and Traders to establish rally points.

 

 

As the players increased their numbers the threat of the monsters attacking decreased as well. Mini-Rally Encampments were set up as the players heading to the north just kept on increasing everyday.

 

 

If you were in one of these encampments you would have thought that you've stepped into a medium sized village. The encampments had stalls from various Merchant Shops, Blacksmith Shops, Appraisal Shops, and First Aid Centers.

 

 

All of these encampments gave 2% of their profits to the Decane guild. Decane had signed a deal with the Commercial Community (composing of Merchants, Blacksmiths, Tailors, Appraisers, Alchemists, and other production jobs) to create this business opportunity.

 

 

In the main cities, the Commercial Community has a tax of 15% in all of their business transactions. Offering the Decane Guild a 2% incentive was a bargain.

 

 

 

 

 

Nash's eighth video displayed his victory against the murlocks and the lamias. But this time he showed the prowess of his private army.

 

 

He showcased the combination of the Range Sieger and the series of Hunter attacks as they took on the thorny devil lizards head on.

 

 

The Range Sieger is a hidden job. There were already a number of players who had gotten it but no one had really displayed its power and potential.

 

 

He was confident of his private army. He thought that with the military precision that they displayed as the army of murlocks and lamias came at them was enough to give Decane a run for their money.

 

 

Many strategies were shown in this video post, but Smoke still stuck to his plan of keeping most of his information a secret, such as the acquisition of knowledge from books, the location of Nanahuatl Village, and his job.

 

 

However, at the end of his video post he included the part where in Sharur called out his name. Before everyone would just call him supernovice. But now they would come to know him as... Smoke!

 

 

With this he had hoped that it would entice the players to start reviewing his videos once more. He desperately needed to make 200,000,000 views.

 

 

A few hours after Nash posted his eighth video a forum thread became viral. The thread kept getting comments every second. It's subject was 'Tristan vs. Amahan vs. Smoke'