Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (19 page)

"Centaurs! You dare compare us to those filthy Centaurs! You've been to Pferde, right? Then you should know exactly what I'm talking about."
"I apologize. I didn't mean to insult you in any way." Smoke decided to keep his mouth shut for the time being. He feared that if he spoke out to defend himself again it would only lead to a more disastrous situation.
"Hmmpf! Doctus may have allowed you entry to our village, but don't go blabbing about those Centaurs while you're here in Saruras."
The Grandmaster turned his back on Smoke and began to walk out of the room. Smoke could hear him mumbling to himself. "If it wasn't for political obligations, I would've fed this DarkElf to Calamar."
Smoke's eyes grew wide when he heard this, but then the Grandmaster faced him again, this time with a forced smile.
"My assistant will comply with your healing request." The Grandmaster gave a signal to Saru, the white gorilla Simiavulg, and left the room Smoke was in.
Saru proceeded as ordered and healed Smoke in silence. Smoke wanted to have a conversation with the Simiavulg healing him, but he decided not to.
He learned to keep his mouth shut with the Simiavulgs. He feared that he would make the same mistake and offend him as well, just as he did with the Grandmaster.
The healing process took a while. He sat there in silence, but wanted to learn more about Saru. So instead of talking, Smoke spent the time observing the white gorilla Simiavulg.
He noticed the matching white metallic staff next to Saru, as well as Saru's red eyes. Due to these two facts, he wondered whether Saru was an albino Simiavulg.
Yet the one question that his curiosity obsessed about was the meaning of the colors of the staves. This only grew even more when he saw Saru and Grandmaster Indignus' staves.
'I wonder if Saru is on the same level as Doctus and the others?'
In the silence, his mind wandered even more, thinking about what form of power boost the Simiavulgs would give him. After thirty minutes of healing inside the casting circle, Smoke's life bar displayed a fully recovered state.
Smoke stood up and did some random punches and kicks to see if there were any problems with his previously broken limbs. He found none and felt even stronger than before.
He watched a kneeling Saru waiting patiently for him to finish his self-checkup. After his short stretch, he was taken to another building.
The scattered cherry blossom trees in the courtyard gave the martial arts temple a romantic feeling. He wondered where the other Simiavulgs were.
'I guess this isn't like the shaolin movies I've seen, where the students are constantly training everywhere.'
Saru led Smoke to a palatial building. They took five flights of stairs, which led to a door with a Yin and Yang symbol on it. The white gorilla Simiavulg knocked and they heard a metallic staff being tapped on the floor in response.
Smoke saw Saru place his white metallic staff on the side of the door and then push the door with his two hands. This made Smoke wonder just how heavy those doors were.
He was led inside a circular room with a single black marble chair that had a spotlight on it. In front of the chair was a raised desk shaped like a curved wall.
Apparently, the Grandmaster, Doctus, Tenvis, Meras and Castas were all waiting for him. Saru left the room after Smoke was seated in the chair.
'I guess this means that Saru isn't on the same level as these guys.'
Doctus stood up and reintroduced themselves. "Hello again, Smoke. As you might have already guessed, the four of us you first met are the great masters of the temples that we've passed through to get here."
Smoke couldn't help but notice that Doctus and the Grandmaster looked exactly the same. He remained silent as Doctus pointed to the other Simiavulgs and stated their names again.
When Doctus was about to introduce the Grandmaster Simiavulg, Smoke saw all four great masters stand up and bow before the Simiavulg with a red staff. "And this is our esteemed Grandmaster, Indignus. The four of us report to him."
He thought to himself that it would have been nice if Doctus was the Grandmaster and not Indignus. He could tell right away that Indignus had it in for him.
"I'm sure you're wondering why we've called you here." Doctus said.
"With all due respect, I know why I'm here. This should be a talk whether or not I'll be allowed to stay in Saruras."
Doctus smiled at him. "That's correct. That's very perceptive of you. Personally, I don't have a problem with it."
'But Indignus does.' Smoke thought to himself.
"But Grandmaster Indignus pointed out that it would be unfair for you to stay here just because  the four of us wanted to ensure your complete recovery." Doctus paused and looked at Grandmaster Indignus.
"According to the rules, an outsider can only stay in our village under the restriction of being a student of our sacred arts."
"Then I would like to humbly ask to be one. Where do I sign up?" Smoke replied with eagerness.
"I had a feeling you'd say that. Well, to become one, you would need to best at least one staff-wielder. Seeing as your treatment in the House of healing and truths was finished only moments ago, we asked the Grandmaster for a compromise."
CLAP CLAP CLAP
After Doctus clapped his hands, a young chimpanzee Simiavulg boy around seven years old stepped into the room. Smoke instantly noticed the boy's yellow metallic staff.
"This is Cibus, a recent graduate of my Pillar Temple. That's where our young receive basic training."
Smoke looked confused. 'Am I supposed to fight this little kid? Are they looking down on me?'
"Oh, I think you misunderstand. We don't want you to fight this kid per se. We want you to try to destroy his barrier."
Castas flipped her straight black hair and smiled. " Put simply, break the kid's barrier and you will earn the right to stay and train here..."
"Which is why this is ridiculous!" Grandmaster Indigus said in an exasperated voice. "Normally, the lowest-level Simiavulg an outsider could encounter would be a blue-staff wielder."
Indignus angrily scratched the back of his head in frustration. "I don't understand why you four would allow this man to challenge a recent graduate of Pillar Temple."
"But, Grandmaster Indignus, you clearly said that Smoke's challenger need only be a graduate of any of our temples." Meras answered with a straight face.
"Argh! Not that again. I clearly meant any of the temples except for the Pillar temple. Any of the specialized temples!" Indignus raised his hands in frustration.
Smoke felt Lady Luck smiling upon him. It had not yet been twenty-four hours since his Beggary Ability worked on the four great masters.
Due to this, his Intimacy with them was still at 82%. "I accept this challenge! Thank you for giving me this fair and just opportunity, Grandmaster Indignus." Smoke spoke fast in order to retain his favorable conditions.
"Fine! Fine!" Indignus looked to the seven-year-old Simiavulg and asked him. "Young Cibus, Doctus told me that you could maintain your Manatl for thirty minutes? Is this the truth?"
The young chimpanzee Simiavulg nervously shivered. "Ummm. Yes, Grandmaster Indignus. I am able to hold my Manatl for that long."
"Good good. Then, Smoke, you will have ten minutes to destroy young Cibus' barrier."
"Wait... What, now?" The DarkElf asked in an alarmed voice.
"Your challenge starts now." Indignus lowered his right hand and a red timer appeared across their table.
Cibus created a glittery spherical barrier in front of himself. Smoke stood completely still in front of the formed barrier before him. He thought that he saw shards of small glass on it.
After being taken aback for a moment, he took out his weighted Chain and Sickle of Dasende and started attacking the barrier in a clockwise manner. A damage roll of 30,000 points flew over the barrier.
Once he completely circumnavigated around the barrier, he confirmed his theory that there was no weaker portion of the sphere. 'Thought as much.'
Two minutes into his challenge and he had made no progress. He activated his most powerful attack, his weapon's active ability called Cyclone of Slaughter.
His body moved like the wind. It appeared as if he temporarily transformed into a tornado as afterimages appeared all around Cibus' barrier. However, even after numerous slashes , the barrier remained undamaged.
Smoke was becoming desperate. He only had two minutes left for the challenge, but all of his attacks were being deflected by the barrier. From the direction of the raised desk, he heard Castas talk loudly. "I'm impressed with Cibus' inclination towards
Physical Resistance
, but I guess this means that he isn't good against attacks that inflict
Status Ailments
then?"
"Castas! Why in the world would you..." Indignus reprimanded the female chimpanzee Simiavulg, but Smoke drowned out the red-staff wielder and concentrated on his task at hand.
'Status ailments, huh?'
Smoke unequipped his weighted chain and sickle and grabbed a pair of poison pellets from his backpack window. With a green pellet in each hand, he smashed them hard against the sphere.
Instantly, a yellow bar which displayed (298/300 BP) appeared on top of the barrier as soon as Smoke's pellets made contact.
His eyes lit up as soon as he saw the damage. He only inflicted a single damage point to Cibus' barrier with each poison pellet.
The green poison pellet that would normally kill a level 70 monster in just a few seconds if forcefully ingested. Smoke started taking out several pellets out of his backpack window with each hand and smashing them against the barrier as fast as he could.
A shocked seven-year-old Simiavulg stepped back as soon as he saw that his barrier was about to be destroyed.
BRREAAAAKK
With ten seconds to spare, Smoke broke Cibus' sphere. "Phew!" Smoke slumped down to the ground as soon as the barrier disappeared.
From his seated position, he saw Indignus' face turn sullen. Tenvis walked over to Cibus and patted his back.
Smoke heard him praising the young Simiavulg for his impressive performance. "If master Castas remained silent, I'm sure your barrier would have held out."
Doctus stood up and asked the young boy to leave the chambers. Smoke saw Doctus turn to face him.
"Well done. You are hereby allowed to stay and train in our village. However...", Doctus paused for a moment.
"The final decision to do so must come from you." Doctus finished his sentence.
"What? Why me? If it were all up to me, then of course I'd stay here. Why wouldn't I want to stay?" asked Smoke, surprised and confused.
This time, Indignus stood up and answered Smoke's question. "That is because you will have to undergo a test after your first month in Saruras."
"What kind of test?" Smoke asked.
"A test equal in difficulty to one a blue-staff wielder would be given."And let me warn you that for most Simiavulgs, it takes about a year of intense training to reach the blue staff level." Indigus gave him a smug smile.
"And what would happen to me if I were to fail this test?"
"Your level and your various ability levels would be reduced by roughly a third of what they are now." Indigus answered with a straight face.
Doctus tried to console him. "Don't worry, I'm sure you could do it. The four of us completed our basic training after about twenty-eight days."
Smoke who didn't know the meaning of the staff colors only replied with a polite smile.
Indigus' impatience became apparent. "So, what will it be? Are you willing to take the test or shall I have Saru escort you out of our village?"
A notification window popped up after Indigus asked the question.

Without hesitation, Smoke confidently replied. "It would be foolish of me to leave now. I shall take your test! I'm sure the great god Cuezaltzin will not forsake me."
                              

* * * * * * 

Smoke was taken to the wide concrete courtyard outside. The cherry blossom trees did not look as calming as before. They placed him in front of an ancient jar filled with water. It had a height that matched up to his waist.
He observed the jar, as it looked extremely old and oddly simple to be of any significant importance.
'If anything is out of place in this whole temple it would be this old jar placed smack at the center of the courtyard.' Smoke thought.
Smoke, Doctus, Tenvis, Meras and Castas circled around the jar. Doctus explained why they were all gathered there.
"Do you remember what happened when we fought against the Dikaya guild?"
"Vaguely. All I know is that you wiped the floor with them."
Tenvis chuckled. "And we weren't even using any of our black staff techniques yet. Howk howk howk."
"Ahem. Can we please stick to the topic at hand?" Doctus reprimanded Tenvis.
"Sorry. Please don't mind me."
"As I was saying. If we responded with normal forms of defense or counter-magic against the Dikaya guild, then I doubt that we would've handled them as easily."
With his right hand on his black metallic staff, the orangutan Simiavulg opened his left palm and a yellow light-energized glove covered his hand.
"This is what we call a Manatl. It is said that our founder was once in deep meditation under one of these cherry blossom trees." Doctus pointed to the trees in the courtyard.
"It was then that she discerned that the Mana around us could be forged into an energy catcher that could absorb all forms of energy."
Smoke then saw Doctus give a sign to Meras and she performed a Lightning Wizard's ability called Wrath of a Thunder God. The clear skies turned to gray and bolts of lightning appeared from within the storm clouds.
CRAAASSSHH CRAAASSSHH CRAAASSSHH CRAAASSSHH
Series of lightning bolts from stormy clouds began to strike down to the ground. Doctus planted his black staff in the ground and stood on it with only his right foot. The orangutan Simiavulg raised his left hand covered in an energy glove and caught all of the lightning bolts with ease.
The storm clouds dispersed and so did the lightning bolt attacks. Doctus leapt off from his staff and held it comfortably with his right hand.
"Of course, this isn't the most efficient way to do this. What if an attack would come from the back? Which is why our founder thought to create a covering. A mantle, if you will. Hence the name... Manatl."
Doctus raised his black metallic staff over his head and created a yellow spherical barrier around him.
"In this form you could block any attack. Even from below. The Manatl goes down into the ground and creates a perfect sphere around you."
"Whew!" Smoke whistled loudly. He would've clapped and even jumped if he wasn't able to keep his excitement in check.
"Although the basic Manatl can block most attacks, it would only block up to a certain percent. Let's say you were hit with a sword. Then, at best, it could only absorb up to 80% of the damage and that's after years of training."
"But you guys were unscathed after you fought against the Dikaya guild? How did you do that?"
"Well, that's because all four of us have trained with specialized Manatls." Doctus smiled at the other three Simiavulgs with him.
After the short explanation on Manatl, Doctus shifted everyone's attention back to the ancient jar.
"Now, let me explain what this jar is for. This is the jar of Sensus. It belonged to the founder of Manatl. This jar can tell us which Manatl a student should focus on. I think you'll get a better understanding after we show it to you. Tenvis, if you please." 
The gorilla Simiavulg gave his black metallic staff to Doctus and stepped in front of the jar. He then placed both of his hands into the jar until his elbows disappeared. Tenvis then began a swirling motion which created a small whirlpool within the ancient jar.
As the whirlpool inside the ancient jar got stronger, the plain old jar began to strip off its outer layer and revealed a glass jar.
Yet, upon closer inspection, Smoke discovered that it wasn't glass but diamond. He briefly thought about Cibus and his spherical barrier before hearing  Tenvis speak up. "This diamond jar signifies my proficiency in the physical field."
The gorilla Simiavulg took out his hand and the used-to-be-ancient jar remained in its diamond form. Doctus gave back Tenvis his black staff and the gorilla Simiavulg struck the diamond jar as hard as he could.
KLIIINNNNNKKK.
The diamond jar resonated loudly like a delicate glass bell. "Ahhh that brings back memories. I always love to hear that sound! But usually its the white staff graduates who are the one making it. Howk howk howk." Exclaimed Tenvis.
Smoke then remembered the physical attacks from the Battle Monks and Daemon Knights. 'No wonder why their attacks were ineffective.'
A few seconds later, the ancient jar returned to its original state. Tenvis stepped aside and Meras, the blond gibbon Simiavulg, stood in front of it.
She did the same procedure as Tenvis and dipped her hands into the jar until her elbows disappeared. However, the jar did not turn into its diamond form after she created a whirlpool.
Instead, it floated into the air by five feet. Gusts of wind, electric sparks, crumbled rocks and water streams orbited around the ancient jar.
"As you can guess, I specialize in the elements." Meras said with a grin.
Smoke nodded with an even bigger grin. "But how did you guys alternate your Manatls? The Dikaya's attack varied a lot."
"I can't really put it into words, but it feels like you're in a different plane once you get to be a black staff holder." Meras explained.
The orbiting elements dispersed and the ancient jar slowly descended. Meras stepped away from the jar and was replaced by Castas.
She brushed aside her black hair which covered her eyes, before dipping her hands into the ancient jar. She followed the lead of the two Simiavulgs who went before her and swirled the water inside.
After the water inside the ancient jar reached a certain speed, Castas stepped away and watched from a far. The other Simiavulgs followed her lead.
Smoke then felt her hand pulling him backwards. "You'll have to move away a bit this time. It gets a little bit scary."
He quickly followed her instructions and stepped even further away from the ancient jar than the four Simiavulgs. The swirling motion of the water inside the jar transferred to its container.
The ancient jar began to spin around and was slowly picking up speed. It sped up to the point where the jar began to emit an eerie wheezing sound.
Despite that, the jar remained in its ancient form. Castas then proceeded to cast a harmful spell at the jar. Shards of the broken jar scattered in the air around it, but they didn't fall to the ground.
The broken pieces remained suspended in the air. A few seconds later, the shards started to converge in their point of origin.
CLICK CLICK CLICK
Shards of the ancient jar reconnected with one another. Slowly, the jar looked almost whole again. Once completed, it restored itself to its former appearance, an undamaged plain  old jar.
"My Manatl works best against debuffs and dispelling." Castas said coyly.
"Then you should have no problems against Witches?" Smoke asked.
"Hmm. I don't know. I've never fought with a Witch before, but I think I should be able to handle them."
Smoke licked his lips as he imagined what he could do against Crucibelle and Horrabelle if he gained this ability.
Doctus tapped Smoke's shoulders and brought him back to reality. "I'm sure you want to give it a try, but only graduates of my Pillar temple get to take the jar of Sensus and receive a yellow staff after they're sorted into the specialized temples. "
"Are you sure Smoke can pass the his test through the normal process? I hope he won't be forced out of Saruras." Asked a concerned Castas.
"We can never be sure, but I guess we'll just have him take the basic course for now. I'll teach him the ways of the Manatl as best as I can." said Doctus.
"Are you sure that's the best decision? Shouldn't he have some sort of special training? I mean, he only has thirty days til the test." Added Meras.
"Thank you for your concerns, but I believe in Doctus' decision." Smoke answered the two female Simiavulgs. "He's the one that found the goodness in his heart to save me."