Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (35 page)

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Under the lazy afternoon sun, Sierra and her personal army of two-hundred-eighty Zectians were headed for Ardennes Forest. They were spread out among ten ordinary carriages, which were being pulled by aardwolves. These were the mounts that survived the battle but have lost their war chariots.
Normally, they would have been given to be mounts on the Arcus who drove them, but sadly the Arcus themselves did not survive.
It had been almost five days since they left Centzo's region. The desolate sight of the Brandals' carnage were long left behind.
Instead, they gladly welcomed the sight of greenery and docile low-level creatures that grazed on the expansive plains. It was a pleasant distraction from always being reminded of the harsh battle they had just won.
As they were nearing the location, Sierra checked on the actual coordinates of their destination. She opened the Quest window.
 

She smiled after she read the quest information. This was why Sierra brought everyone with the Transmogrify ability with her.
Although, no one else knew why they were here, not even Smoke.
Looking over the horizon, Sierra found a good-sized mountain blocking their path. As it was getting dark, she decided to make camp.
"Alright, everyone, we'll rest here for the night," she yelled loudly for everybody to hear.
Ardu and Vrai, the youngest of her companions, were still in their late teens. As Werebears in their cursed forms, they were clearly bigger and stronger than any of the Werewolves. Naturally, commanding respect and authority from all of the Werewolves.
However, this was not the case when they were in their Human forms. Due to this, they worked extra harder at helping out around their group.
Without being told, the two of them were always the first ones to prepare the meals for all of their members.
Meanwhile, Phen and Rear took charge of security. Next to the two young teens, they were in command. They had no problem with the change in hierarchy as the two children were responsible leaders, and always listened to their advice.
After Sierra, Ardu, and Vrai finished cooking their meal, they all gathered in a big circle and talked while eating a delicious supper. They spoke of the people who thanked them in Centzo. There were many who gave invitations to live with them. Of course, none of them accepted such proposals as they all belonged together.
Then, Sierra decided to share the true purpose of their mission. "Everyone, your loyalty and faith is without question. You follow me into these lands without even asking for the reason why we are here. I think it is the right time that I tell you."
All of her gathered friends waited in anticipation.
"I know that we must fight to protect the things that we love, but I hope that we can do so without having to revert to our bestial forms," she said solemnly. "We fought so hard to be free from those cursed forms. I firmly believe that we should be able to contribute to the fight without having to rely on them."
Vrai meekly raised her hand. "If you want us to fight in our normal bodies, then we will train hard."
"Yes! And in order to do that you need proper Jobs," said Sierra excitedly.
"Alright, where exactly are we going? And what is going to happen to us there?" asked Vrai bluntly.
"I honestly don't know, but I believe that this will make us stronger," replied Sierra with conviction.
"And even if it doesn't, I think that we are already strong as we are now," added Rear. "We'll just become Ranseurs or Arcus or something else."
Phen grunted in agreement with Rear. The rest of her private army cheered loudly after they heard the news.
"I'm glad you're all on board with this," said Sierra with a smile.
As the stars gave poor lighting, Sierra pointed over the mountain's silhouette. "Tomorrow, when we reach its summit, we will see what is in store for us."
After finishing their dinner, Sierra had a few conversations with her newly added private army members. She got to know them better and raised her Intimacies with them as well.
With eight more hours before the sun would rise, Sierra decided to log out and get a two hour sleep. She adopted Smoke's sleeping pattern as she found it quite efficient.

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Before the break of dawn, Sierra returned and was already busy cooking breakfast. Her Cooking ability was drastically increasing as she experimented with more ingredients and intrepid cooking methods.
Her private army gladly enjoyed the fruits of her enthusiasm for cooking.
They then quickly gathered their belongings and began climbing the mountain. The moment they entered it, they were met with more aggressive monsters than the ones from the plains.
Stone deer, rabid raccoon and even spined coyotes began attacking them. Yet, they were only equipped with ordinary weapons such as basic wooden staves.
They might not have had any abilities, but their levels were well above 100. They gained a tremendous amount of experience from when they were still cursed Therianthropes.
Sierra ordered them into formations and provided healing for all of her private army. She had them fend for themselves using their staves.
They got into teams of five and protected each others back. Slowly, they made their way up the mountain. These monsters' only had life bars of 15,000 HP and posed no threat to them, but it was a great exercise for them to fight in their natural bodies.
After defeating the monsters, they happily gathered the dropped loot as this was something they could not do from when they were in their cursed forms. They carried the meat, pelt and other dropped items of the monsters.
As they reached the peak of the mountain, they saw a sea of trees on the valley in the other side.
'I've never seen so many trees in one place before,' thought Sierra to herself, and they were mostly fighting in forested areas.
Upon closer inspection, she spotted a clearing in the center of the forest. They carefully made their way down the mountain towards it.
Suddenly, a notification window popped up.
 

Sierra closed the window, but was intrigued at its information. This was the first time she entered an area with no level requirement.
The thickness of the trees did not allow for any sunlight to pass through. There were only two sources of light that entered the sea of trees. They were from the area where they came from, and the other one was at the exit of the clearing.
Along the way, they spotted small flashes of light appear and disappear all around them. They looked like fireflies that could instantly vanish right before their eyes.
Sierra noticed that each one of them had a small ball of light personally escort them to the clearing. All of them, except for her.
When they finally reached the clearing, they found an altar made out of roots that grew out from the ground.
Cautiously, Sierra walked closer towards the altar of roots.
Suddenly, all of the small balls of light joined together above the altar of roots, and formed one gigantic orb.
"Greetings, only those with the knowledge of this place can see us from our sea of trees," said the orb of light. "What is it that you seek here?"
Sierra boldly stood up in front of the orb and answered. "We seek the Hidden Job of the Natural World."
The orb swiveled around as if it were looking at all of them.
"Nature has a delicate balance, but sentient beings always think that they are better than nature," began the orb. "We find that only those of who have been corrupted and wish to repent may be worthy vessels of our power."
Sierra then looked to her private army. "I know I said that we shouldn't rely on our cursed forms, but I think this time we should. Everyone, Transmogrify!" she ordered loudly.
Without any question, all of Sierra's private army members transformed into their cursed forms.
"AWWWWOOOOOOOO AWWWWW AWWWWWOOOOO!" loud cries of the Werewolves echoed throughout Ardennes Forest.
The red Werebear raised her paw, and signaled everyone to quiet down.
The orb of light shone even brighter. "We are pleased to see that all of you have your cursed forms under control. We shall grant you our powers, but we expect that you be advocates of the natural order. Punish the wicked who have made monsters such as yourselves."
Suddenly, it scattered into the small light balls that had accompanied them to the clearing. The balls of light entered their heads of the Therianthropes and merged with their minds.
Slowly, they were reverted back into their human forms, but their equipment were changed as they were now equipped with armors which had thick fur. Sierra recognized the color of their fur to be the same ones as when they were in their cursed forms.
"Sierra, I've turned into a Druid Priestess!" exclaimed Rear excitedly.
"As have I!" added Vrai.
"I'm a Druid Priest as well," said Ardu with the same enthusiasm.
Sierra looked around and found that all of her private army members had become Druid Priests or Priestesses.
The red Werebear looked around for her own small ball of light to merge with her, but she found none. She then saw that the orb of light was still floating above the altar made out of roots.
"Excuse me, I think you might have missed me," said Sierra humbly.
"No, we were waiting for everyone else to complete their amalgamation," answered the orb of light. "Everyone, as you are now Druid Priests, we hold you responsible with our powers."
"However, we have decided that it is best to keep a close eye on you. As such, we will amalgamate with your leader," said the orb of light and suddenly merged with the red Werebear.
An inquiry suddenly popped up in front of Sierra.
 

Although, half hesitant, Sierra answered. 'Yes'
The orb of light engulfed her body completely and her equipment changed to that of a red furry cape which reached to the ground.