Zectas Volume I: Enigmatic Village of Nanahuatl (9 page)

 

 

Nash's prayers were answered. The comments went on and on about what job Nash has in ZECTAS. Almost all of them concluded that he has an advance hidden job of thief.

 

 

The views kept on rising. At this rate he was sure that he could clear this month's quota for expenditures and savings for his brothers' future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Darius, who should I talk to for my next family token?"

 

 

"Hmm well it could either be Franz or James."

 

 

"Ohh, I was hoping that you were hiding another one behind your back and say 'TADA' it's right here."

 

 

Darius raised his eyebrow as he was looking at Smoke. There are some things that you cannot joke about and one of those things is a family token.

 

 

"Right right. So Franz it is. His house is the one embedded with the big potato right?"

 

 

TUK TUK TUK

 

 

Smoke knocked on the big potato embedded on the door. There was no answer. He tried calling out Franz's name and he heard a voice calling him from behind the house.

 

 

There he saw 2 boys plowing the field by hand and 1 girl mixing some form of fertilizer into the land, while their parents Franz and Magda were clearing out the huge stones and logs that were covering their field.

 

 

"Hi Franz. Do you mind if I talk with you a bit? What are you guys planting?"

 

 

"CARROTS!. We originally wanted to plant potatoes, daikon, yam, or anything except CARROTS."

 

 

"Why such hate for carrots? I seem to remember you guys loving the carrot soup I made just recently."

 

 

Smoke forgot that in ZECTAS time was 4x faster than the real world and he has been away from Nanahuatl Village for quiet some time.

 

 

"Of course we loved them Smoke. It's just that since then we've had nothing but carrots and now we're also forced to plant nothing but carrots."

 

 

Since the Village of Nanahuatl was still recovering the only food sources that they have are some rabbit meat that are hunted by the teens in the village, some fish caught by the fish trap dam, and some carrots from the field.

 

 

Apparently it was the only root crop left available and even that was dwindling in numbers. That was why the farmer family of Nanahuatl Village decided to do what they were meant to do and started cultivating the fields.

 

 

If it weren't for the eight teens that were gathered and trained by Darius to use the bow. Then they would have ran out of rabbit meat all together.

 

 

"It's really uplifting to see everyone working together. Helping each other out. I'm glad I was made to start here in Nanahuatl Village."

 

 

"We're also glad to have you here Smoke. I mean if it weren't for you then who knows what would've happened to us."

 

 

Since the people of Nanahuatl were all NPCs they would have just stayed in their beds sick. Waiting for a player to come rescue them but Smoke felt that he really did save their lives because of how the NPCs were showing their appreciation.

 

 

"Well about that. You see Franz, I've just received my first quest and I'm really excited to complete it but it seems that I would need your help in completing it."

 

 

"If it is within my power then without a doubt I will help you."

 

 

"I'm glad to hear you say that Franz, you see I would like to ask you to give me your family token. No, what I mean to say is that please I'm begging you to give me your family token."

 

 

Upon hearing such words everyone in the field stopped what they were doing. The rest of the family members looked to Franz waiting to hear his answer.

 

 

"Smoke... umm.... you see... how do I put this.... Your certainly the savior of our village but you asking for our family token is like you telling us that you've been doing all these good deeds for all this time just so that you can get our family token."

 

 

Smoke was shocked to hear such an accusation. He sincerely just wanted to help them out. He just got this quest recently how could they say such a thing.

 

 

"I'm sorry that you feel that way Franz but that isn't my intention at all. I just really wanted to help all of you out. I just learned the requirements of the quest just now."

 

 

"Smoke, I can feel the sincerity of your words. I'm sorry for accusing you of such a dastardly act. Forgive me Smoke if I have offended you."

 

 

"That's okay but now that you've said that you cannot give me your family token I don't know how to proceed with my quest."

 

 

"Wait, I never said that I can't give you my family token. If you really want our family token then you must do an even greater act than rescuing Nanahuatl Village from starvation. An act that would put our family and our descendants in your debt forever."

 

 

Smoke was pondering how in the world he would do something like that. Why couldn't he just give him his family token. Wasn't it enough that he saved the village?

 

 

"Can you tell me how to do just that? I don't have any ideas at all."

 

 

"We maybe alive and well now. But this alone has not healed us completely. We were born to be farmers. We have been born to plant, raise, and harvest crops. That is who we are. However I can no longer enjoy the thing that we were meant to do."

 

 

So it wasn't something as heroic as slaying a legendary dragon after all. It was just helping their family get back on their feet and continue on their livelihood happily.

 

 

"That does sound truly horrible. Work without enjoyment is slavery after all. Is there a way I can help you with this problem?"

 

 

"Well if you could gather some root crops from the Mandragora Forest then I would consider that to be the most heroic of acts."

 

 

 

 

"Yes. I'd gladly do that. If you would have told me sooner that you had this kind of problem then I would have looked into it as well."

 

 

"Thank you Smoke. Here let me show you the way to Mandragora Forest."

 

 

Smoke felt like he was asked to go to the grocery rather than to do a quest. The map indicated the way to Mandragora Forest it was nearer than the hidden cave of the dire foxes.

 

 

After gathering some food and other necessities. Smoke started his way towards Mandragora Forest. He looked forward to entering a forest. He felt that he had become stronger. True he was still far from Tristan but he was on his way for extracting his revenge.

 

 

As soon as he was at the entrance of the Mandragora Forest he did a quick check on his items and status. His satiety was ok so he didn't need to eat just yet.

 

 

"Status Window."

 

 

 

 

Smoke prioritized to increase his abilities rather than to increase his levels. He was most especially happy with the first ability that he got.

 

 

Agility of the Horned Rabbit was now Intermediate Level 9. It gave him so many benefits attack speed, movement speed, dodge rate. Because of its high agility bonus it made it seem like he had an extra 28 levels.

 

 

Satisfied with himself Smoke took the first steps in to the Mandragora Forest.

 

 

 

 

Smoke thought he was practically level 45 with his agility bonus included. He confidently continued deeper into the forest.

 

 

The forest looked really beautiful. It was filled with gigantic flowers. Their colors varied from Red, Pink, White, Yellow, and Blue.

 

 

The forest floor was covered in greenery. Smoke also noticed that the floor was somewhat slippery and somehow it felt like it was moving.

 

 

-20 Poison Slimes detected.

 

 

His ability 'Cunning of the Dire Fox' has detected that he was already surrounded by poison slimes. They were skillfully blending with the forest.

 

 

He was lucky that he had learned such a helpful ability. As the slimes slowly moved he picked one target and attacked it.

 

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 69.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 69.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. Damage 26.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 67.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 65.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.

 

 

- Attacked by poison slime. Miss damage. 0

 

 

The life bar of the poison slime indicated that it had a total life of 1,000 HP it has a life of almost 3x that of the dire fox.

 

 

Smoke's damage on the poison slime wasn't as high as the damage he dealt with the dire foxes. He decided to use his ability 'Armor Break of the Armored Armadillo'

 

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 69.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 69.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 69.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. Damage 22.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 69.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.

 

 

- Attacked by poison slime. Miss damage. 0

 

 

+ You've dealt a fatal blow to the poison slime.

 

+ You've killed the poison slime.

 

+ You've gained 2400 exp.

 

+ You've gained a level.

 

 

The poison slimes give a pretty decent experience. However what was concerning was that his damage remained the same. Even with armor break his damage didn't increase at all.

 

 

While Smoke was still trying to come up with a reason as to why his damage was so low. He was caught off guard by a poison slime.

 

 

- Attacked by poison slime. You've been poisoned. Health -250

 

- poison continues to lower your life. Health -40

 

- poison continues to lower your life. Health -40

 

- poison continues to lower your life. Health -40

 

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 69.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. Damage 28.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 69.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 69.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 69.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.

 

 

- Attacked by poison slime. Miss damage. 0

 

- poison continues to lower your life. Health -40

 

- poison continues to lower your life. Health -40

 

- poison continues to lower your life. Health -40

 

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. Damage 29.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 67.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 65.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 69.

 

+ Attack hit poison slime. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 68.