Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (22 page)

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Smoke was taken to a secluded part of Saruras village. There were no other Simiavulgs in sight except for the albino gorilla Simiavulg who had led him there.
'Not only is the test going to be even harder, but I don't even have a proper teacher to take me to the next level of Manatl.'
For the first time since he accepted the Ways of Manatl Quest, he felt concerned that he would really end up losing 30% of his precious levels.
"Smoke, Smoke! Snap out of it!" Saru yelled.
The DarkElf turned to face the albino Simiavulg with an empty look.
"Don't worry about the test. The Manatl you have right now may not be enough, but it will be if you work on it. Come, follow me."
Smoke followed Saru without question. After all, he didn't know what else to do. He was like a floating ghost, an empty shell.
"This whole area is safe for you to train in."
Saru showed him around the place. He saw a small pond that had an unusually abundant amount of fish. Next, he was taken to see a decent-sized cave with tiny bats hanging from its ceiling. Lastly, he was shown a group of bamboo trees that swayed with the wind.
"You should stay within this area. Otherwise, it could be troublesome for you. Let me show you a couple of simple exercises that will help you strengthen your Manatl."
Saru started near the bamboo trees. The albino gorilla sat down under the trees and projected a faint Manatl barrier around his white body.
Smoke watched curiously and noticed some bamboo leaves that fell down. The leaves would only travel around Saru's barrier. He expected them to disappear or maybe even stop and slide off. Yet none of that happened.
After that, Saru took him to the pond. There, Saru sat down once more and created his Manatl. This time, the albino Simiavulg floated on top of the water and crossed the pond.
Saru's education tour around Smoke's newly-assigned area had taken some time. It was now getting dark and the tiny bats inside a cave were getting restless.
The albino Simiavulg took Smoke to the front of the cave. There, Saru stood with his white metallic staff in hand and created his Manatl. The swarming tiny bats moved around the albino Simiavulg naturally.
Once the last of the bats flew off. Saru faced Smoke and told him. "Do these three exercises until the time of the test and I'm sure you'll be fine."
Smoke nodded and obeyed. It was nighttime and Smoke thought it best to clear his mind from the recent turn of events. He logged out of Zectas and slept soundly for the next two hours.
A sliver of light from the breaking dawn greeted Smoke when he returned to Zectas. He thought to start his training with the bamboo leaves.
Before he could even sit down, Smoke felt the sharp edges of the leaves graze his purple skin. "Ouch! What the..."
The bamboo leaves turned out to be razor sharp. He quickly grabbed hold of his white staff and concentrated to create a Manatl.
He could only hold his barrier for five minutes and then came the razor sharp bamboo leaves. He sat there until his life bar was at 15%.
Smoke stepped away from the bamboo trees before his life bar situation got critical. While his health recovered, he thought about trying the small pond.
With his white staff in hand, he created the Manatl and took a step towards the water.
PLOOOP!
Smoke instantly fell under as soon as he stepped on the surface of the pond. He sat on the edge of the pond meditating, trying to float on top of it with his Manatl, but nothing happened.
He repeated this exercise until nighttime came. He quickly got into position in front of the cave and created a Manatl before the tiny bats could harm him.
Sadly, he received status ailments of blindness and bleeding as soon as the swarm of tiny bats' attacks broke the limits of his current Manatl.
He repeated all three exercises day in and day out. On the twenty-eighth day, Saru returned to check up on his progress.
Smoke's armor changed colors from all the time it spent in the pond. It was also covered with cuts from the razor sharp bamboo leaves, as well as bite marks from the swarm of tiny bats.
He noticed Saru's troubled expression and told him. "Don't worry about it. I look worse than I actually am. I've been waiting to show you how much I've improved."
Smoke started with the bamboo leaves. He sat down on the ground and struck the trees until the fallen leaves surrounded him.
His dark purple barrier incinerated the razor sharp bamboo leaves as soon as they touched Smoke's Manatl. He left a spherical scorch mark on the ground where he had made his barrier.
He stood up and stomped the ground hard.
BADOOOOOGGG!
The land around them shook from Smoke's absorbed Mana. He turned to see Saru's reaction and found that the albino was trying to remove scorch marks from his own barrier instead.
Next, Smoke took Saru to the small pond. From the edge of the pond, his dark purple Manatl absorbed the water it touched and evaporated it.
After that, he took Saru to the cave. It was still early in the afternoon, so there were no tiny bats flying around. Smoke picked up a rock and threw it towards the ceiling.
His thrown rock disturbed ten tiny bats and they dived straight down to attack him. Smoke fluidly created his dark purple barrier and incinerated the bats as soon as they made contact with his Manatl.
Smoke's charged-up staff was directed towards the ceiling. He released the captured Mana from the ten bats and a strong gust of wind was on its way straight to the swarm of sleeping tiny bats.
Saru leapt in front of Smoke's attack with his white Manatl barrier surrounding him. He absorbed all of Smoke's attack into it.
When he landed down on the ground, he dispersed the energy of Smoke's attack gently into it. He then sternly reprimanded Smoke.
"Your training has gone far too much to the destructive side."
"Has it? I'm sorry, but I figured Manatl should be used as a charger in order to empower your next attack. I thought I was using it right."
"Well, in that aspect you are, but I was hoping you would discover the other side of the coin. Anyway I'm here to tell you the time and place of your exam."
Smoke noted the disappointed look on Saru's face as he told him the details of the exam. He was supposed to wait in front of the shoreline of the lake near the submerged bridge.
"Good luck with the rest of your training. May Cuezaltzin grant you peace in this time of turmoil." Saru immediately left without looking back at Smoke.
He planned to spend the last three days of his training trying to figure out the meaning of words Saru left him with. 'What is on the other side of the coin?'
Yet as the days went by, his Manatl's destructive force steadily grew stronger. He increased the duration of his full-body Manatl to ten minutes, but he would need to rest at least for an hour before he could use it again.
With the words Saru left him, Smoke tried to invigorate a couple of withered flowers. He used the gathered energy from his Manatl and tried sending it to the flowers, but it only disintegrated them.
Eventually, his blind focus on improving his current Manatl made him give up on Saru's riddle.
'It's better to have this power rather than have none at all.'
 

* * * * * * 

Smoke anxiously headed over to his assigned testing grounds. The setback involving the jar of Sensus hurt his confidence.
Yet, he thought that he had the right amount of fear and anxiety to keep him on his toes. He knew that he needed to perform well on this test.
Indignus, Doctus, Tenvis, Castas, Meras and Saru were all waiting for him on the shoreline near the submerged bridge. The Grandmaster Simiavulg called out to him.
"DarkElf, you have spent a month here in our village. As such, it is time for you to submit to our test."
Indignus nodded towards the four Simiavulgs with black staves before he continued.
"All four masters have requested that I make this test as straightforward as possible. I'm more than happy to comply."
The Grandmaster pointed his red staff towards the lake.
"I don't know if you're aware of them, but there are lake monsters called Kappas. Their levels range from 110 to 150 at best."
Smoke respectfully nodded to Indignus before the Grandmaster spoke again.
"You merely need to defeat a hundred of them using only your staff and your gained Manatl ability. Violate any of these conditions and your result will be considered a failure."
Smoke had read about the Kappa monsters. They were humanoid monsters who had turtle shells on their backs, webbed hands and feet and sharp beaks for mouths.
"Take that boat and ride over to the deeper end." Indignus pointed to an eight-passenger row boat docked on the shoreline.
"Don't the kappas attack near the shoreline?" Smoke asked.
"Yes, but don't you want to finish this test faster? You see, there are more kappas in the deeper part of the lake. So, could you run along and start your test already?"
Smoke bowed to all the masters, as well as Saru. He pushed the wooden rowboat by himself and jumped on board when it gained enough momentum.
By chance, he looked back and caught a glimpse of Indignus while floating away from the shore.  Smoke got a bad feeling as soon as he saw the red-staff wielder's smug smile.
 

Smoke's past failure on the jar of Sensus and the penalty from the Ways of Manatl quest were great motivators for him to be vigilant. He knew better than to head directly to where the kappas were.
Awkwardly rowing on a twelve-foot wooden rowboat, Smoke felt like a fish out of water. Due to the fact that he wasn't given a time limit, he decided to inspect the vessel he was on.
He strictly limited himself to the protective rock formations near the shoreline. His white metallic staff was placed securely beside him. Its length covered two out of the three seats on the boat. As he practised rowing, he found that the oars would often escape the rowlock.
Ten minutes of rowing passed when he heard Grandmaster Indignus' voice coming from the shore. "I know that I didn't give you a time limit, but you know that your test ends today, right?"
KLANG!
Indignus loudly banged his red metallic staff on one of the rocks on the shore.
"Don't worry about the boat! It won't capsize easily even if twenty kappas board it. Now leave the protective rocks and row further into the lake! That's where the kappas are... Hey! Are you even listening to me?"
Smoke smiled when he heard Indignus' agitated voice. As much as he liked pestering the Grandmaster, Smoke felt that there was some truth to what he said.
However, he decided to tune out the red-staff wielder. Smoke knew that he needed to be as dexterous on this boat as he was on solid ground, so he continued with his focused rowing.
An hour of intense rowing practice passed and he thought he would check up on Indignus' irritated face. He looked back in the direction of the Simiavulg masters, but only found Saru and four brown-staff wielders in their place. Saru was the only one left from the original audience.
Wondering where the five temple masters had gone, Smoke asked Saru where they were. The gorilla albino answered back.
"They left about thirty minutes ago. They said they had more important things to do than watch your rowing practice. They left representatives to witness your trial in their place." 
Smoke shrugged his shoulders and rowed some more. 'Good. I think I have the rowing part down. Now I just need to practise fighting on a moving boat.'
Carefully, he placed the oars inside the rowboat. He took his white staff with both his hands and began to rock the boat. He was steadily increasing the swaying motion of his vessel.
Given the strong rocking motion of the rowboat, Smoke found it hard to move and attack with the staff as he wanted to. He almost fell into the lake as he practised striking with his white staff.
'It isn't as easy as I hoped it would be, but at least Indignus was right about the rowboat not easily capsizing.'
He awkwardly kept on practising. He even heard the brown-staff wielders snicker and laugh at him. However, he did not falter. The extensive hours of training under the Pillar temple taught him to be even more patient than he already was.
Another hour into his offensive practice and he began to move as he wanted. He learned to use the boat's rocking motion to his advantage. He struck his intended target whenever the boat would sway in that direction.
When he couldn't strike, he'd dodge imaginary shadow images of the kappa monster. He spent another hour and half doing the same routine.
Due to Smoke's close proximity to the shoreline, he could clearly hear the brown-staff wielders' conversation.
"I thought he would row straight to the kappas. I see now why the great masters called us."
"I thought so too, but this guy's strange. He even has a purple Manatl," Smoke heard a familiar voice. He looked at the Simiavulg who spoke and found that it was Lectus, his training instructor from the Pillar temple.
"Well, all I know is that he failed the test of the jar of Sensus, which explains why he still has that white staff."
"I wonder if he'll be stuck as a white-staff wielder forever?"
"Now, that's just mean. I wouldn't wish that to my worst enemy."
The brown-staff wielders' conversation ended abruptly when their topic became Smoke's white metallic staff. Smoke thought that it must have been awkward since Saru, who was holding his own white staff, was standing right beside them.
'Alright, I think I have all the bases covered.' Smoke slowly rowed towards the deeper portion of the lake.
Smoke had only traveled a few meters away from the defensive rock formation when he noticed a strong disturbance in the green water. Three green, scaly kappas sprang out of it and immediately went after his boat.
One of the humanoid monsters climbed up the stern while the other two went up the starboard side. With his white metallic staff in hand, Smoke stood up and created a small Manatl on each end of his white staff. He carefully waited for the kappas to attack.
Suddenly, both of the kappas on the starboard side leapt up and attacked him with their sharp claws.
The monsters' jump made the ship tilt starboard. Using the Manatl on the bottom end of his white staff, Smoke swiftly blocked the kappa on his right as it used a double claw attack for 6,000 damage points each.
HISSS HISSS!
Burn marks appeared on the kappa's claws as Smoke's Manatl absorbed its attack. A split second later, the kappa on his left performed the same attack. This time Smoke used the Manatl on the top end of his staff.
After the two monsters' attack failed, they dove back into the lake and displayed  turtle-like shells that were covering their backs.
Apparently, the two kappas' sudden retreat was a distraction tactic. If it wasn't for his Cunning of the Dire Fox ability, he wouldn't have sensed the kappa coming from the stern side of the boat.
The monster leapt up and attacked Smoke with a flying kick. He blocked the kappa's clawed foot with the Manatl on the top end of his staff.
After Smoke blocked the monster, he redirected the kappa's attack and threw it down to the bow of his rowboat.
With the monster down, Smoke stabbed it with the energy he gathered from all three attacks. He damaged the kappa for 43,000 damage points. The kappa's life bar went down to (72,000/115,000 HP).
The kappa winced in pain from Smoke's massive attack, but it alarmed him when he saw that the kappa survived his Manatl-energized blow.
He resorted to using his white metallic staff in a spear-like motion, with his left hand lightly holding the staff and his right hand thrusting and pulling.
Due to his low Beggar Rank, he could only do 25% of the actual damage of his staff's basic attacks, since it was normally only usable by those with a Job related to Martial Arts. As a result, each of Smoke's normal staff strikes dealt an average damage of 2,000 points. Thanks to his Agility of the Horned Rabbit ability, his attack speed was improved, allowing him to swiftly execute attacks with his white metallic staff. This gave Smoke his first kappa kill.

After reading the updated information, Smoke closed the quest window. 'I thought I'd get the same results as Doctus and the others when they fought the Dikaya guild. I guess I still need to absorb more attacks before making a single killing strike.'
SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH.
His musings stopped when four kappas leapt onto his boat simultaneously. Two came up on the stern and another two on the bow.
Due to the webbed monsters on board his boat, he only had enough space to stand in place and face all of these kappas at once. He took a deep breath as he readied his white metallic staff.
His left hand held the middle portion of his staff loosely, as it served as the fulcrum point of his attack, while his right hand firmly gripped its lower end. It gave power and control to his motions.
HISS SCHILD HISS SCHILD HISS SCHILD HISSS SCHILD HISS SCHILD HISSS SCHILD.
Smoke's Manatl made scorching and repelling noises as it blocked and absorbed the kappas' attacks. His staff fluidly moved from side to side as multiple claw swipes came his way.
He did his best to keep the monsters within the optimal reach of his white staff. After a couple of seconds of blocking the blows from the monsters on the back portion of the boat, his Cunning of the Dire Fox alerted him that both of the kappas on the front side leapt in to join the fray.
With his back exposed against two kappas, Smoke felt the monsters zero in on his weak spot. Since his feet were still firmly planted on the rowboat, only his upper body turned the opposite direction to face the kappas.
PLONG!
Using all of the absorbed Mana from the monsters' attack, Smoke thrusted his staff into the nearest leaping kappa. His energized white metallic staff pierced the kappa and killed it in a single thrust.
Suddenly, a minimized quest window update popped up in the upper left corner of his view. Smoke ignored the blinking icon as he already knew the information it contained.
Despite killing the first kappa in a single strike, the second leaping monster still rushed in with its claws directly aimed at him. The monster managed to reach Smoke's staff and grabbed a hold of its middle portion.
With his gained experience of the rocking motion of his rowboat, Smoke used the kappa's inertia and threw it over in the direction of the two kappas on the back portion of his boat.
Both kappas dodged their flying kin as it flew past them and fell back into the murky green lake. The remaining kappas remained unfazed after Smoke's single kill strike.
'Am I missing something here? Do these guys know something I don't?'
SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH.
Six more kappas sprang up from the green lake and tried to climb the row boat's sides. Smoke used his uncharged white metallic staff and attacked them before they could get on the boat.
He may have only dealt 2,000 damage points, but he struck the monsters in critical places. This forced the monsters on the sides of his boat to release their hold and return into the lake.
Despite his efforts, two Kappas managed to get on the boat unscathed. Smoke was about to execute another attack when he sensed the two monsters from before leap towards his back.
Unfortunately, he couldn't defend against them in time and this distraction allowed for four more kappas to climb over the sides of his boat.
Two pairs of claws scratched Smoke's back and dealt 6,000 damage points on each claw attack. His life bar revealed that he only had (141,850/165,850 HP) left.
Smoke arched his back in pain. He took a deep breath and held his white metallic staff on the middle portion with both his hands. As fast as he could, he began spinning it in a three-hundred-sixty-degree motion.
His right and left hands' well-practised synchronicity increased his staff's speed and power. A total of eight kappas prepared themselves to jump him.
SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD.
Only a few of the monsters' attacks got past both Manatls on the ends of his spinning white staff. As a result, he still had (93,850/165,850 HP) left.
Alarmed by the damage inflicted by the webbed monsters, Smoke's staff-spinning speed increased. A purple circular shape began to form as afterimages of his two small purple Manatls blocked and absorbed the kappas' strikes.
PLONG!
In a split second, Smoke attacked a kappa with the energized blow of his staff. The kappa received a damage of 200,000 points and died instantly.
Smoke fluidly resumed his staff-spinning as he kept on blocking the kappas' attacks. Whenever he absorbed more than twenty attacks, he launched a counterattack with his re-energized staff to kill a kappa in a single hit.
One by one, more kappas would take place of their fallen kin and get on top of his boat or try to go near him from the side. Whenever there were kappas that would try to prop themselves up on the side, he would strike their arms with the non-Manatl portion of his staff.
This ordinary staff attack only dealt 2,000 damage points, but still made the kappas let go of the sides of his boat. Smoke only allowed the monsters to get on either the stern or the bow.
He kept on this arduous attack pattern for the next thirty minutes. Suddenly, he saw that there were only two kappas left on his boat. He focused on only attacking one of them with his uncharged staff attacks, but still blocked both of the monsters' attacks with his Manatl.
When he finally killed the targeted kappa, he used his energized staff and bashed it into the last kappa's head.
After dealing with the last of the kappas, he decided to check the blinking quest window.