Zectas Volume I: Enigmatic Village of Nanahuatl (36 page)

 

 

Sierra opened her status window for the first time and was about to distribute her 120 stats. She noticed an Endurance stat that she hadn't read in the forums and wondered what that stat was.

 

 

She also noticed that her Vitality stat was already at 50 while her Defense was already at 30. This must have been one of the bonuses from the gamepod.

 

 

"Do you know what this Endurance stat is? This is my first time opening my status window and I don't have any idea what it is."

 

 

"Now I see why I've taken such a liking to you. That Endurance stat is a hidden basic stat. You would have needed to increase your Vitality and Strength to 500 and your Defense to 2000 before that stat appears. So, I guess you are blessed by the gods because you have that stat even though you're still a novice."

 

 

"Okay, but what does this Endurance stat do exactly?"

 

 

"Raising Endurance increases your health points, defense points, and makes you resist stun attacks. Of course the increase from Vitality would still give a much higher increase in health."

 

 

"Nice, this must be the bonus stat that I got from my special gamepod."

 

 

"Gamepod? What's that?"

 

 

"Oh, it's just something I have back home. So should I raise this instead of Vitality?"

 

 

"That depends on you. However, in my opinion raising it early on would be very beneficial especially since you're still looking for your friend. The Endurance stat would give you the ability to do some solo adventuring."

 

 

"Endurance stat it is then."

 

 

 

 

+ Attack hit sewer rat. Damage 220.

 

 

"Wow, there was such an increase in damage. Stats are amazing!"

 

 

Sierra wiped the floor with the 10 sewer rats and a notification window popped up indicating that she had completed the quest and she has gained 3 more levels. She was about to open her status window when Sierra saw a drooling dog with its flesh all ripped up. By the looks of it, that dog should be dead not walking.

 

 

"Umm, what's that?"

 

 

"That's a zombie dog. There are a variety of undead in the sewers. There are zombie cats and actual zombies as well. This is perfect. This will make it easier for me to teach you this heal ability."

 

 

Nenek went towards the zombie dog and allowed the undead beast to attack her. She took some damage that ranged from 1-3 points.

 

 

"Now, my lifebar is slowly decreasing. This is the perfect time for you to heal me. It's a bit similar to how you use your 'Energy Mace' ability but instead channel your mana into a ball like object and project it out to heal me."

 

 

"Okay, let me give it a try."

 

 

Sierra spent the next 30 minutes trying to project a healing ball towards Nenek. Nenek was in no hurry since her lifebar indicated (2,982,000/3,000,000 HP).

 

 

"Perhaps if I show you how, maybe that will help you figure it out. I'm sorry I forgot to do this in the first place. It's been a long time since I've taught anyone."

 

 

Nenek slowly gathered her mana in her hand and projected it towards Sierra. Even though Sierra's lifebar was still full she still felt that her body was being filled with Nenek's mana. She also felt rejuvenated and re-energized.

 

 

Sierra concentrated her mana into her hands again. This time she tried projecting what she just felt and a healing energy ball was released from her palms towards Nenek. The healing ball healed 300 HP of Nenek's mammoth like HP.

 

 

Nenek ordered Sierra to keep on healing her until she ordered her to stop. After 3 hours a notification message appeared.

 

 

 

After reading the 'HealBall' ability she decided to try attacking the zombie dog.

 

 

+ Heal Ball hit zombie dog. Damage 400.

 

 

Because she was too close to the zombie dog, the monster switched its attack target. It was now aiming for Sierra. Nenek swiftly casted her Heal Ball and damaged the zombie dog for 50,000 HP. Nenek killed the dog instantly.

 

 

"Wow. That was amazing. This has been bothering me for a while now. But your life. Is that correct? You have 3,000,000 HP?"

 

 

"I don't know if I could call it as normal but I do know that I'm in the top 100 individuals with the highest life in the whole of ZECTAS."

 

 

"So there are other people with a higher life than you?!"

 

 

"Yeah there are a lot more and that list doesn't even include the gods and the great gods."

 

 

"Amazing!"

 

 

"Also, you should be careful when someone is tanking you. Some monsters change targets when they are attacked. I think that should do for now. Let's head back to the surface."

 

 

Back on the surface. Nenek casted a cleansing spell which removed all the foul odors on their armors. She then motioned for Sierra to kneel down, hold both her hands together and assume a praying position.

 

 

"Sierra, you have completed the requirements of taking the job of an acolyte. Will you accept this job?"

 

 

"Yes!"

 

 

Sierra thought that she had to go to some academia in order to get a job quest. The Acolyte job was also one of the basic jobs that she had in mind. Then her smile turned into a furrowed brow. She was a little bit disappointed though when Nenek didn't give her a hidden basic job.

 

 

"I thought you would be delighted. Most people have to go to the Church of Centivion in order to get this job."

 

 

"But isn't that Church just in the southern district of Centio?"

 

 

"Yes it is. But still, I've spared the time needed for you to get there haven't I?"

 

 

"I guess, but I was hoping to get a hidden basic job."

 

 

"Oh. You want more power then? If it's power you want I do know of a remote village South of here that may hold that power that you are looking for. It's called Repormatl Village."

 

 

"Alright! Will I get a hidden job once I complete this quest?"

 

 

"You'll know when you complete it. Give me your map so I can mark the location of the village."

 

 

Sierra's map was updated with the location of Repormatl Village. Nenek also gave her a shield to boost her defense.

 

 

All her needed preparations were completed. She was good to go. Yet, she felt a little dizzy. She checked her status window for her satiety level. It indicated that it was normal. Then she remembered that she had been playing ZECTAS for over 36 hours. Sierra logged out to get some sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sierra awoke at the entrance of Centio City. She was ready to go find Smoke and while she still didn't know of his location. She would increase her levels and learn more about the game.

 

 

While she was leaving the city, a party of a swordsman, an archer, and a magician noticed her and asked her if she would like to join them.

 

 

"Hi, my name is KuroKen, and this is AkaneX, and SakuraZ."

 

 

The female archer and magician waved at Sierra.

 

 

"My name is Sierra."

 

 

AkaneX went closer to Sierra to ask her a couple of things.

 

 

"I'm afraid that we don't have a healer in our party and you look you have a healing job right? We're still level 18 ourselves. What's your level?"

 

 

"I'm still level 15."

 

 

"That's perfect. Come and join us. We're gonna hunt some saber gophers."

 

 

"Where is this hunting grounds located? Is it south of here?"

 

 

"Yup, it's a few hours walk but we can hitch a ride on one of the caravans going to a village in that direction and shorten the time to about an hour."

 

 

"Nice, how much does a ride cost?"

 

 

This time it was SakuraZ who answered her.

 

 

"That depends on the distance that you're gonna ride in. But for our target hunting ground it's only 20 zecs."

 

 

"I'm afraid I don't have any zecs at the moment."

 

 

"That's okay we can cover your fare. We're really desperate for a healer since KuroKen here isn't really a great tank."

 

 

"Hey! I am a great tank. I'm gonna be a knight someday. I just need to increase my defense but I also want to have some attack since the two of you aren't online always."

 

 

Sierra joined their party and together they rode on a caravan headed south for Nalusac Village. The three of them spent most of their time talking about school and their upcoming project deadlines.

 

 

From what Sierra understood they were all classmates. It wasn't clear though what their actual relationship to each other was.

 

 

At the hunting grounds of the saber gopher. KuroKen took the lead to play the role of the tank. Their party spotted two saber gophers scurrying. AkaneX hit one of the saber gophers with her arrow while SakuraZ shot the other one with a fireball, the attacks aggravated them making the monsters rush towards them.

 

 

KuroKen was ready to intercept the the two saber gophers. The saber gophers focused their attacks on KuroKen. The saber gophers dealt 140 damage each.

 

 

Sierra immediately casted her Healball which healed KuroKen for only 300 HP. The three friends all looked at Sierra. They couldn't believe that her healing ability was this low. They expected to see at least 700 HP of healing from her.

 

 

AkaneX couldn't hold it in and just had to ask Sierra.

 

 

"Is that your maximum healing?! You said you were a healer! Don't healers give out at least 700 HP of healing?! Did you just want a free ride or something?"

 

 

"Yes that was my maximum healing. I don't know about other healers but that's all that I've got."

 

 

While Sierra and AkaneX were arguing KuroKen's lifebar was left with 30% of his total HP. SakuraZ was trying her best to kill the saber gophers quickly but at this rate KuroKen would die first before SakuraZ could kill one saber gopher.

 

 

Sierra stopped arguing with AkaneX and took our her mace and shield. She ran towards KuroKen and attacked the two saber gophers.

 

 

Sierra's attacks triggered the saber gophers to switch targets. The monsters were now focusing on Sierra. She closed her eyes and  braced for the monster’s attacks. A few seconds passed and she still felt nothing.

 

 

She opened her eyes and saw that the saber gophers were attacking her for zero damage. Her Endurance stat plus the shield was beyond the saber gopher's attack.

 

 

Envisioning herself as Nenek. Sierra continued attacking the saber gophers with her mace without using her 'Energy Mace' ability. She damaged the saber gopher for 40 points. She checked on the saber gopher's remaining life (1,200/2,400 HP).

 

 

The three of them were shocked. How could Sierra receive zero damage when their swordsman KuroKen took 140? KuroKen was the first one to snap out of it and yelled at AkaneX and SakuraZ to join in on the attack.

 

 

Since AkaneX and SakuraZ were range fighters their attacks didn't cause the gopher sabers to change targets. Sierra also kept on attacking the monsters to keep them focused on her.

 

 

KuroKen would do a slash every now and then but made sure to take a step back in order to avoid being targeted. The four of them continued on and finished the 2 saber gophers in under 10 minutes.