Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (12 page)

"Whoa!" exclaimed Smoke. He was taken by surprise at the newly gained active ability.
"What's the matter?" asked a startled Ledur as he searched around their area for any potential danger. "Are we being attacked?"
Igniz hurriedly flew higher and orbited around their campfire, looking for their enemies.
"No, no. My ability just reached master level. Sorry, for worrying you guys," replied Smoke excitedly. He didn't think about anything else but trying out the new ability.
It took so long to increase this ability from Advance to Master that Smoke stopped paying attention to its experience bar.
Posthaste, Smoke stood up and used Extra Sensory. At the same time, Igniz returned and circled around him. At once, his eyes turned golden and became that of a dire fox's. For the first time, he could see the energy flowing out of Igniz and Ledur.
Igniz's dark purple flames left a trail of where he had flown through. He could also see the energy used on Ledur's
Earth Manipulated tables and chairs.
Smoke smiled. The visual effects of the ability were quite impressive, but he had a feeling that this ability had something else to offer.
However, he temporarily set the idea aside and checked on the other two hidden abilities that he first acquired in Zectas.
His smile grew even wider when he saw that his Agility of the Horned Rabbit was almost at Master Level 1 as well. He then checked his Armor Break of the Armored Armadillo. His smile faded as he found that it was still at Advance Level 3, but that didn't keep him down long.
His excitement to discover the Master Level of his Agility of the Horned Rabbit's was the only thing in his mind right now.
"Ledur, Igniz, I'll be right back." said Smoke eagerly and headed for the forest patch.
The winged Tikbalang stepped in front of him and asked. "Wait, where are you going? I thought there were no enemies?"
"Yup, I'm just gonna train a bit," answered Smoke with anticipation. "Don't worry, I'll be careful."
After he tried out his Extra Sensory ability, his MP was halved, but that didn't matter as he wasn't going to need it.
His Cunning of the Dire Fox picked multiple monsters hiding behind the trees. However, this forest patch only had low level creatures. Monsters such as stone deers, iron owls, rabid racoons and poisonous skunks.
Despite this, Smoke still wanted to train his Agility of the Horned Rabbit. He chose a nearby pack of rabid raccoons. There were ten of them altogether. Given these many opponents, he thought that it should result in some significant experience.
He grabbed two fallen branches from the ground and sneaked up on the rabid racoons. Dual wielding the two branches, he struck each one of the rabid racoons, but made sure not to kill them.
Aggravated, all of the rabid beasts came at him at once. Their claws came at him from all directions. He braved the pain as some of the attacks scratched his flesh. While dodging most of the monsters' attacks, he delivered eight swift strikes to one of the rabid racoons and accidentally killed it.
His mouth twinge after killing the monster. The experience bar of his target ability practically didn't move at all. He wished he had books to hold onto instead, but he had acquired the knowledge of all his books.
Ten minutes into his training session and the experience bar still did not budge at all. Smoke sighed and realized that this was pointless. He switched to his weighted chain and sickle and instantly killed the remaining nine rabid racoons.
He only wanted to gauge how much longer it would take him to raise the Agility of the Horned Rabbit to Master Level, but clearly the rabid raccoons were not the monsters capable of doing that.
"You should have said that you just wanted to practice dodging." Ledur's voice came out of nowhere.
Startled, Smoke looked up and searched for his friend. He found him standing on one of the tree branches behind him.
"You know, I know of a more efficient method to train your dodging ability." stated Ledur.
"Really? How?" asked an intrigued Smoke.
"Follow me," replied Ledur and flew out of the forest back to their encampment.
Igniz greeted Smoke warmly and orbited around him when he returned. "Calm down, bud. I wasn't gone that long." As his symbiote flew around him, he then realized that his dark ember sprite was only closing the claw marks of the rabid racoons.
Smoke patted his dark ember sprite. "Thanks, bud, but I've got some real training to do." He stared at Ledur who stood some distance away from them.
He walked over to the winged Tikbalang cautiously. After all, he had no idea what Ledur's efficient training method was.
Ledur stared intensely at Smoke. All of a sudden, the winged Tikbalang spoke out. "Due to our constant battles, I never got to properly thank you for saving my fellow Pferdians," he said gratefully. "Now, you even rescued the captured children."
"Think nothing of it. I was only doing what I know is right." replied Smoke sincerely.
Ledur's bat-like wings expanded to its full size and he then bent his body slightly, giving Smoke a bow. "Allow me to thank you now, by helping you out with some light training."
"Yeah, about that, what exactly do..." Smoke stopped talking as multiple earth spikes came at him from the ground. While he dodged six of them, four earth spikes grazed his back and damaged him for a total of 2,400 points.
In that one attack, Smoke received more damage than when he fought ten rabid raccoons. It took all of his focus to dodge more earth spikes coming his way.
Smoke was reminded of how large their gap was with the mastery of the earth. Ledur's attacks were swift, unpredictable, but calculated.
He bobbed, weaved, twisted his body body in all directions in order to avoid Ledur's powerful attacks. Sensing thirty spikes aimed at him, Smoke leapt up and glided farther away.
'My earth spikes are no where this fast. I wonder if Crucibelle could have dodged Ledur's earth spikes,' he wondered to himself as he tried to catch his breath.
Unexpectedly, an earth pillar rammed into his back and sent him flying back to where Ledur was.
"Time out!" Smoke cried out as he breathed heavily.
Ledur's attacks instantly ceased.
Smoke eagerly checked the experience bar for the Agility of the Horned Rabbit, and found that it increased by 0.1%, he smiled as he ultimately found some progress. Their fight lasted less than fifteen minutes, but he could already see the result.
"You're right. That was more effective. I finally got some experience points, but we don't have time for it now," explained Smoke as he did some rough calculations and realized it would take more than a day of such practice to fill the remaining 10% to Master level.
"Let's finish eating and head for those villages afterwards," said Smoke with conviction. "My ability can wait. Those people are far more important."
Ledur nodded and flew towards the campfire. Smoke winced as he watched his body covered in multiple cuts and bruises.
'And he didn't even use his full power,' he thought to himself as he praised how strong Ledur was.
While eating, his thoughts were disturbed by the one he was thinking of, Ledur abruptly spoke out. "Smoke, about the other three villages. I think it's best if lie low. We wouldn't want to scare them with my cursed appearance."
Smoke strongly shook his head in disagreement. "No way is that going to happen. They'll eventually meet you and other Tikbalangs in Verbrannt anyway. So, it's better for them to deal with it now than later."
"Very well." Ledur dropped the topic and continued eating.
In less than ten minutes later, Smoke, Igniz and Ledur were back in the skies. With their satiety bars filled, they were on a direct flight to the three villages.
 

* * * * * * 

Airborne for more than an hour, Smoke was determined to reach the villages before the end of the day. Yet, his plans were foiled by nature itself as storm clouds gathered and poured heavy rain on Smoke, Igniz and Ledur.
"Igniz, inside," called out Smoke to his symbiote as he pointed to orb chamber on his chest. The dark ember sprite instantly disappeared and positioned himself comfortably within the metallic orb.
"Ledur, I can't continue in this weather. The rain’s too strong," stated Smoke flatly.
Without a word, the winged Tikbalang nodded and started to descend.
As their journey was stalled due to their tempestuous weather, Ledur created a small shelter with Earth Manipulation which protected them from the heavy downpour.
While waiting out the storm, Smoke finally received a call he had been waiting for almost a day now. In the middle of Espion's original mission to meet Incitant, Smoke sent him to investigate Braucht Hilfe village and confirm whether there was a trap waiting for them there. That was the last time he had spoken to the young Spy.
Smoke answered Espion's call.
"I've got some good news and some bad news," spoke the young Spy in a hushed voice.
He heard Espion take in a deep breath which assured him of a lengthy explanation. "I found Horrabelle in Braucht Hilfe village. She's gathered twenty Werebears and almost two thousand Werewolves. Now, she's just waiting for the remaining eight thousand Brandals of the supplier legion to reassemble and join her." Espion confirmed Smoke's suspicion of a trap. "But since you didn't continue to Braucht Hilfe. I heard that they were now headed to Pinagsama village. Once all of them are gathered, they should reach the village within two days."
Smoke sighed and allowed the troubling information to sink in. "Alright, what's the good news?"
"That was the good news," replied Espion. "The bad news is Incitant and his alliance aren't what we thought they were."
"What do you mean?" asked an alarmed Smoke.
"In my earlier report, I said that Incitant's alliance has over thirty-thousand Sonstwelters," stated Espion. "However, I was misinformed of their actual levels. As it turns out, the alliance has less than a thousand members who are above Level 100."
Smoke's eyebrows met. "And the rest of them?"
"All below Level 80. Ten thousand of them are above Level 50, while the rest of them are barely Level 30," responded Espion.
"Level 30? But's that a level you can gain in less than a week!" Smoke raised his voice out of frustration.
"Sierra ordered me to meet with Incitant, hoping that his alliance could launch a strike of their own." Espion described why he was originally sent to Centzo. "But I don't see that happening any time soon. Apparently, none of the Sonstwelters below level 50 ever came back."
"So how many men does Incitant actually have?" asked Smoke while shaking his head.
"A little over seven thousand," answered Espion somberly. "But they can't leave or else the city will be undefended as well."
"Incitant is just playing defense?" Smoke asked in disbelief. "That man has to do something!"
BAROOOM BAROOOM BROOOM BROM
The loud thunder and torrential rain dampened his mood even more.
"What about the mayor of Centzo? What does he have to say?" asked Smoke.
"I wasn't able to meet him," responded Espion quickly. "He was injured from the last Brandal attack and is still recovering. I'll check on him again and see if I could meet him."
Smoke took a deep breath and decided on the new orders to give his Spy. "Alright, keep your eyes on Horrabelle for now and tell me the moment she leaves for the villages."
He wanted to make sure the exact time they had left before Horrabelle reaches them, but before dropping the call he had to remind his friend of their most important rule in Smoke's private army. "Espion, remember to stay as far away as you can. Your life is more important than any information."
"Got it," answered Espion with complete understanding.
Huddled in the small earth shelter, Smoke shook his head in disappointment and stared angrily at the blustery clouds overhead.
'I've got to reach those villages soon!' thought a frustrated Smoke. 
 

* * * * * * 

After almost twenty hours; Smoke, Igniz and Ledur finally reached the three villages. All three places were situated inside a deep, expansive valley. The tall mountains encircling it looked volcanic, as such he guess the land was blessed with rich fertile soil. 
Due to their high aerial view, Smoke found that the mighty Murray river had been forcibly redirected towards a colossal dam of architectural marvel, creating a massive man-made lake. A towering earth-dam smack in the middle of the three villages. He estimated that it must have stretched for almost three-kilometers and was at least ninety-meters tall.

Smoke assumed that the ancestors of all three villages must have worked together to create such an outstanding spectacle. He thought that it was another proof of how well these three villages cooperated with each other, and now wondered whether they weren't originally just one big village.
The three villages situated on lower grounds than the dam relied on the large waterwheel carrying the river waters into irrigation canals and redistributed them into their expansive farmlands. He could tell that the three villages were highly invested in agriculture.
With his Telefax Vision, Smoke followed the flow of the irrigation canals and found multiple smaller waterwheels along it.
Smoke could only let out a whistle as he was at a loss of words in their technological advancement. He envied them and was now more invested in having them move to Verbrannt, hoping that this technology could be transferred there.
He intended to visit Pinagsama first as it was nearest to the east side, where Horrabelle was coming from. The three villages were small and really close to each other. So small that even with all three of them combined, Verbrannt would still be larger.
Flying directly over Pinagsama, he assessed that the village walls were well made, but he instantly noticed something missing. They were lacking Archer towers in the entire village.
Even though they could land inside the village, Smoke and Ledur landed outside of the village's main gates with Igniz still hidden in his metallic orb. He did this in order to show them proper respect and steadily increase their Intimacy.