Light Novel – Zectas – Volume 01 – Chapter 04

The History of Jackal & Hide

The recovering village of Nanahuatl looked serene and calm. The old broken doors were now replaced with new ones. The trees and the bushes in their respective yards were trimmed. Signage on the different establishments were being put up again.

The fountain at the center of the village was painted with immaculate white. The agricultural fields maintained by the Briars were plowed and planted with root crops. Kids and grown ups could also be seen playing near the fishing weirs that was constructed with armored armadillo carapace.

Although conventional commerce has yet to return because of the shortage of zecs the residents just got by through trading of items and services. Of course there are a lot of residents who give out their services for free, like Darius who has taken on a group of teenagers under his wing teaching them the way of the bow.

Yes, things were looking up for everyone in Nanahuatl Village. Yet amidst all this happiness two individuals were secretly having a meeting. A meeting of the dubious kind. The members of this secret meeting were the clan heads of the Jackals and the Hides.

Earlier that week Smoke just arrived from Mandragora Forest. After completing his quest and receiving his 2nd family token he immediately headed for the house of James Jackal the clan head of the Jackal family.

James is an elderly man but did not look frail at all. If Smoke didn’t know that James’ job was a Tailor he would have thought for sure that this NPC was a Warrior.

“Why hello there young hero. I have heard that you took on the Briar’s quest of gathering root crops? I expect that you’ve returned here telling him that it is impossible to defeat that guardian tree ent? Or perhaps you’ve come here looking for reinforcements to aid you on your quest?”

James Jackal was smiling but somehow Smoke felt like he was being questioned for the crime of the century. Smoke also felt odd because just before accepting Franz’s quest James was very pleasant to talk to.

“Well I was lucky enough to have completed that quest. Darius was also a big help giving me a bow and the ember stone.”

“What?! You managed to defeat that ReenTe?! He had such an immense health. How many people did you take from the village to help you? Did you hire some mercenaries?”

“No no no. I was fortunate enough to have defeated ReenTe by myself. Although if ReenTe did manage to hit me one more time, I would have surely died.”

“I see. I see. So what can I do for you then Smoke, slayer of ReenTe?”

“Well I don’t know if you’ve heard but I’ve received a quest from Darius and as such I’ve started collecting the family tokens in Nanahuatl Village.”

Smoke felt really awkward. He use to speak comfortably with James. In fact next to Darius it was James Jackal and Howard Hide who were really friendly towards him.

“Yes I’ve heard. So I suppose you want our family token now as well?”

“Yes I would like to humbly ask you for your family token. I know that it is a very precious item but I’m willing to do anything in order to get it.”

“Anything? Be careful of the things you say Smoke. I might take you up on that offer.”

“Please if you could tell me what could be enough compensation for your family token. I’m sure that what ever you say will be a fair deal on my end.”

“Very well, come here by the end of the week and we will talk.”

“Alright then, see you by the end of the week and thank you for listening to my request.”

Smoke then headed towards Darius’ house. Darius was packing a lot of food and other necessary items for the long journey towards Coatl city. He was sending the 8 teenagers to become archers. They have also been instructed to find the advance job variations from the archer job.

“Wow that’s a lot of stuff and you’ve prepared all 8 bags. I’m sure those eight will make you proud Darius.”

“I know. I’m sure they will do great. Maybe even become legends in their own right.”

“I bet. Anyway I wanted to show you some of the loot I’ve gathered.”

Smoke took out the items from his bag. The scythe like front legs of the orchid mantis, some kind of green squishy balls from the poison slime, and the questionable mandragora flowers.

“Wow this is quite a haul. Just how many do you have of these items?”

“Well I have 5,000 pcs of green slime balls, 2,000 pcs of mandragora flowers and just 500 pcs of front legs of the orchid mantis. I only managed to bring 500 pcs of the front legs because these things are heavy and carrying any more made me encumbered.”

“Of course these things are heavy. These front legs can be crafted into weapons. I think if crafted well one mantis blade can be as much as 10,000 zecs.”

Smoke not having the opportunity to browse the items sold in the main cities had no idea if it was cheap or expensive. He only nodded his head in response to Darius’ enthusiasm.

“That sounds impressive. What about the other items can you tell me something about them? Especially the mandragora flowers. I thought that they might be a used as medicine or something.”

“First these green slime balls are called poison pellets these things are the source of the poison from the poison slimes. These mandragora flowers however are not medicinal plants as you have thought earlier. This things are dangerous. You see this plant induces hallucinations and nightmares. It was a good thing these flowers were not crushed during your travel or you would’ve been one of its victims.”

“Ohhh, and here I thought I was gonna add it to the medicinal rabbit stew. Good thing that I showed it to you first then.”

“Well I do have a container for some dangerous things like this. Wait here while I get it for you.”

“You sure do have a lot of useful stuff Darius.”

“Well with my job you tend to get a lot of things. Some of them maybe nice, others maybe useful, but most of them are just junk.”

One of the perks of Darius’ hidden job was getting a lot of useful items. Smoke was so excited to get the hidden job. If only the other clan heads was just like Darius and would give him their family tokens without the hassle of quests.

“I see. I can’t wait to have the same job as you do Darius. It really sounds intriguing. Can you tell me the name of your job again?”

“Of course I can tell you. My job is that of a ….. hey wait a minute. You’re trying to trick me into giving out my job without completing the quest. That was very sneaky of you Smoke.”

“Damn, I thought for sure you were gonna tell me. Aren’t you suppose to tell me everything you know and answer anything I ask?”

“It’s good to have some mysteries in life Smoke. Once you’ve completed the quest you will know what ‘our’ job is. So have you spoken to James or Howard yet? Have they given you their quest?”

“Yeah about that, I spoke to James and he told me to come talk to him after a week. It also felt strange and awkward talking to him. Does it have to do with me completing Franz’s quest?”

“That is an intelligent guess and most likely correct. We can’t know for sure, unless you ask him yourself.”

“I guess that means I have one week to do something else. Right about the mantis blades do you think you can manage to craft them?”

“Why yes of course I can. However with this much work I feel like I should be getting paid. You are my dearest friend and all but I have to make a living as well. Would it be alright with you if I charge you 500 zecs each for these mantis blades?”

“You’re only gonna charge me 500 zecs for an item that can become 10,000 zecs? That sounds a bit to harsh to me. I think 5,000 zecs each would be a fair price.”

“But at that price that would amount to 2,500,000 zecs do you have that kind of cash?”

“Yeah I have some saved up zecs besides didn’t you tell me that I could sell those off for 10,000 zecs once your done crafting them into mantis blades? At that return that investment is cheap.”

Smoke having no need for zecs at the moment wanted to help out Darius in the most subtle way. Darius had been a great help to from the very start of his ZECTAS life.

“Wow that is really generous of you, thank you Smoke. Ummm…. I know that this sounds presumptuous even when you’ve already increased my pay but perhaps you can give me an advance payment. Not that I don’t trust that you can’t pay me or anything it’s just that I have some need of zecs ASAP.”

Classic Darius, Smoke remembered the time when he was still giving Darius his loaves of bread. This guy when you start giving him something he just wants to keep on asking for more.

“Sure I can pay in advance.”

– You’ve transferred 2,500,000 zecs to NPC Darius

“Thanks Smoke. I’ll get on crafting this blades right away. Just after I…. finish my own mini quest. Well if you’ll excuse me.”

“Of course, go right ahead. I’ll try to look around the village as well. I want to see all the improvements.”

As Smoke left Darius’ house he saw him putting the zecs into different money pouches. It seems like he was gonna give the zecs to his future archers, as pocket money for their trip to Coatl City.

“That’s Darius for you alright, he may seem like a needy greedy guy but deep down inside he just wants to help people out.”

Smoke toured the whole village and was amazed at all the changes. Nanahuatl Village didn’t look run down anymore. Everyone was busy with something, he tried offering them help but was politely declined.

“Well I guess I should try hunting some monsters or something.”

Smoke tried the forest nearest to the village. The forest was filled with stone deers. Smoke remembered that this was the monster that greeted him in the forest of the Maneator. He was curious to find out how he would fare against this monster now.

Taking out his bow and arrow Smoke swiftly fired 8 shots in rapid succession. Each making 1000+ damage points. After hitting the stone deer the life bar appeared and indicated that it had only 7000 HP and then fell down dead.

Smoke was happy with himself he was able to take out the stone deer in one volley of arrows. It did take Damien and Veiz, the range members of Tristan’s party just 2 hits making them have damages of around 3500 each but Smoke’s rapid fire, more than made up for the lower damage.

After spending a couple of hours hunting the stone deer, Smoke decided to do some experimentation on his abilities and items. He wanted to try the deer meat that he got from the stone deer. He prepared a dish following the recipe of the ‘medicinal rabbit stew’ and it came out as ‘medicinal deer stew’ which gave a much higher regen. He then activated the ‘Heart of ReenTe’.

“Well time to test out this perilous theory.”

GULP

Smoke ingested a poison pellet. Immediately he took damage that was almost 3x the amount of the poison attack that he got from the slime.

– poison continues to lower your life. Health -115.

If it wasn’t for the ‘medicinal deer stew’ and the ‘Heart of ReenTe’ he would surely be dying right now. Instead he was still gaining +10 HP as regen even with the poisoned status.

Smoke continued some more experimentation with his abilities and equipments. On his 5th day of experimentation his awaited event finally happened. His bow finally got broken as it consumed its last point of durability.

+  Learned Ability: Bow Mastery     Passive     Level: Beginner Level 1     Experience: (0/1,000)     By exhausting the full durability of your beginner bow in battle you have  grasped the truth about bows.     Bow Damage: +1% Increased Damage

“Finally! Took long enough. I expected it to be much sooner because of my increased attack speed.”

Smoke happily switched out his broken weapon and used the dual knives that Darius gave him. He had thought that he would learn this ability just as he did with the ‘knife mastery’ ability. Everything was going according to plan. He had planned that during this one week’s wait he would learn ‘Bow Mastery’, improve ‘Dual Wield’  and then increase his poison resistance.

Smoke moved around the forests near Nanahuatl Village for a week. He had gained 4 levels and improved his targeted abilities, he had also raised his poison resistance to 40%. At that point he no longer took any poison damage from the poison pellets and no matter how many poison pellets he ate his poison resistance no longer increased. He concluded that it was the maximum resistance he could gain from using the poison pellets.

He returned to Nanahuatl Village with some feathers from the iron owl, pelts from the rabid raccoon, and meat from the stone deer. It seems it was only those monsters that were inside the forests near Nanahuatl Village.

Among his loot he found the feathers of the iron owl most useful. Darius told him that if the arrows were made using the feathers of the iron owl it would give an extra distance of at least 100 meters from his current arrows.

“Those arrows using owl feathers are great and all but I can’t use them since I broke my bow. I was hoping that maybe you have another spare beginner bow?”

“Ohh… I’m sorry I don’t have any spare beginner bows left. I do however have this experimental composite bow. If you don’t mind its negative effects then I’d let you have this one.”

“That bow sounds intriguing can you show it to me?”

Darius showed him his experimental composite bow.

Experimental Composite Bow     A bow made of out of 2 black beginner bows and other raw materials hard to decipher, because the craftsman of the bow is still experimenting it causes some of your accuracy to drop.     Damage: 4-8   Durability: (300/300)   Dexterity: -20

“Well -20 dexterity is a really big draw back, but since I placed all of my stats into dexterity then it shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

During the past week Darius was also paying everyone for their services and items. So zecs were now available to everyone once again. Smoke was glad that regular commerce was coming back but they were only buying and selling amongst themselves. They needed to have some kind of outer influx of zecs.

The promised date has finally arrived its been one week since James told Smoke to return. Inside James’ house was another figure. It was Howard Hide the clan head of the Tanning family of Nanahuatl. They greeted him with big smiles and excitement on their faces.

“Smoke thank you for coming as promised. First of all let me apologize for the way I have treated you earlier this week. You see I was filled with jealousy, and hope. Jealous that you took on that insane quest of the Briars first. Hope that maybe if you did somehow manage to complete their quest, you could also manage to complete ours.”

Next it was Howard’s turn to speak. He told Smoke about the reason why it took them one week to have this meeting.

“You see, James and I are not originally from here. We were born in the noble warrior village of Condortl. Children born from this village are bred to be warriors. When we were ten years old, our Shaman Priestess told everyone in the village that we have offended the great spirit god Tlazotl. As a means to appease the great spirit god we were told to strip off all our weapons and equipments and become as pure as the day we were born. Everyone was then gathered in the center of the village in front of the newly made altar. By chance it was our 2nd day of officially becoming warriors. So naturally we wanted to test our mettle against the monsters near the village.”

Howard stopped his narration as the look of pain and dread overcame his face. His body started to tremble involuntarily. James tapped his shoulder to snap him out of it. James decided to continue the explanation.

“We wanted to try our skills against the mighty mountain griffons. As we reached near the summit of Mt. Aeriloc we got a glimpse of the whole village from below. From there we saw the carnage. The Shaman Priestess was actually a  fecund lizard. They are the females of the lizard people, they have the ability to shape shift into any person that they have eaten. She trapped the whole village using the males of the lizard people, the virile lizards spewed out their paralysis spray.”

This time it was James who stopped. However in his eyes you could not see fear but rather immense hatred. After regaining his composure he continued.

“The people in our village are excellent fighters. Even if the virile lizards were twice their size they could have still managed to defeat them if only they were equipped with their weapons. The virile lizards continued their sprays as they pummeled everyone. All of the warriors tried to fight but their fists could do no harm to the virile’s thick leather. The virile lizards continued on paralyzing people until they caught everyone. The fecund lizard then revealed to be the matron of those lizard people and has made all of the survivors into her slaves in order to dig for the precious ‘Vitalis’. A life giving gem stone said to enhance the regenerative and reproductive abilities of the lizard people.”

“So after witnessing such a traumatic scene James wanted to jump off the cliff in order to go fight all of the lizard people, I stopped him and told him that we should escape and try to look for help. We tried asking all of the nearby villages but every last one of them denied us of aid. We continued wandering until we reached here, ragged and half dead. It was good old Darius that found us right near the entrance of the village. He nursed us back to health and listened to our story. He told us that we should first do reconnaissance so we can make an intelligent estimate on the help that we may need.”

“Howard and I did just that. We settled in on one of the empty caves in Mt. Aeriloc and started watching every move that the lizard people took. They divided the villagers into cages with a maximum count of 5 persons per cage. All the weapons were kept in a weapon vault at the center of the village. The village now had new huts besides each cage. Apparently the 5 maximum count per cage was used as an defensive measure. Making sure that the warriors can never have the chance to regroup and attack them. The captives’ cages were also kept apart from one another.”

“It took us 4 months to understand how the lizard people operate. However during the 4th month we realized something dreadful. It was the incredible reproduction rate of the lizard people. In just 4 months the lizard people who attacked our village grew from 500 virile lizards into 2,000 virile lizards.”

“We came back to Darius asking for help, but as Nanahuatl isn’t a fighting village they could only send 100 people at best and those persons were not even warriors. Some of them were fishermen, tanners, tailors, miners, and cooks. The residents of Nanahuatl Village locked us up, preventing us from joining the battle. They said that it was no place for a 10 year old…. Sadly in the end they couldn’t defeat the lizard people. If Darius wasn’t there I think all of them would have been wiped out, but even with Darius there two people still died. They were Jovas Swift and Henric Peterson. The master tailor and master tanner of Nanahuatl Village…”

“The death of those two heroes drove James and I to become the master tanner and master tailor of this village. To somehow honor their valiant sacrifice for trying to save our village.”

It took a few seconds before Howard continued on…

“It has been 50 years since the day Condortl Village was enslaved. We’ve continued looking for help but everyone always said no. Today with high hopes we ask you Smoke, will you free Condortl Village for us?”

+ Quest: Liberate Condortl Village     Liberation Quest     Level: D     In exchange for their family tokens James Jackal and Howard Hide has requested you to free their village of origin. The Village of Condortl is currently occupied by at least 10,000 lizard people.         Accept the Quest? [YES/NO]

“Yes of course I will. I can’t think of a way to liberate them right now but I won’t give up until I’ve freed every single one of your people.”

Smoke was moved after hearing NPCs’ story. He was only captured for a couple of hours by the Maneator, he can’t imagine what it would feel like to lose your freedom for 50 years. Even if he did say yes, Smoke had no idea how to proceed with this quest.

“THANK YOU VERY MUCH SMOKE! We knew that we could count on you, with you on this quest I’m sure our people is as good as liberated.”

“In our hope that you would accept this quest. We have prepared some items that maybe useful for you.”

James took out a black leather suit of armor. It looked like an armor set for an archer. Smoke was so pleased to see that he would be graduating from his novice clothes.

“Normally this suit is only wearable by those with the job of a sniper. It took me 4 days without sleep to convert it to any job with a dexterity of at least 350. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it any lower. I hope that you can pass this requirement?”

“Wow! What a lucky break. If I didn’t train this past week I wouldn’t be able to reach that requirement. I currently have 355 dexterity. So if that’s the only requirement of that armor set. I’m more than OK with it!”

“I’m glad to hear that. Howard also prepared the maps and a summary of our investigations on the lizard people.”

“Aside from those I also prepared this mask. It only covers half your face, but it should give you enough protection against the virile lizards paralysis spray.”

+ Received ModBlackSniper Suit by James Jackal
+ Received Specialized Gas Mask by Howard Hide

Smoke examined the details of the items.

ModBlackSniper Armor Set   Originally a suit made for snipers, but has been crafted by master tailor Jackal to be usable by any job.   * Wearing the complete Set gives you a bonus of +20 Dex and +20 Vitality   * Requires 350 Dex to use.   Black Leather Body Armor:     Defense + 100     Vitality + 10     Dexterity + 5   Black Leather Pants Armor:     Defense + 80     Vitality + 5     Dexterity + 5   Black Leather Arm Bracers:     * quick item slot 2 pcs each side     Defense + 10   Black Leather Gloves:     Defense + 10     Dexterity + 2   Black Leather Shoes:     Defense + 10     Movespeed + 5

Specialized Gas Mask     Half Faced Gas Mask in order to protect you from dangerous airborne attacks. Specially made against paralysis spray from Virile Lizards.   Defense + 10   * Immune to Paralysis Spray from Virile Lizards.

After examining the items he quickly equipped them. He took out his dual knives and stood before the mirror. He can’t help but admire his new look. He felt like an elite ninja assassin as he executed 16 slashes in the air in lightning speed.

This is really a great quest. He hasn’t even completed it yet he already received items. Then it dawned on him, this quest must be really difficult. If something is to good to be true, then most likely there is a catch to it. He needed to know everything about this quest, imagine all possible scenarios and outcomes if he wants to have a sliver of hope of completing it.

“Thank you so much for these items. I thought that I would be stuck with my novice outfit until I get to a main city. Regarding the quest. I was wondering if we could have a strategy meeting with Darius as well. If two heads are better than one then four heads will give wondrous results.”

“We don’t mind at all. We would also like to explain in detail the results of all our years of investigation as well.”

In that same hour four minds were melded into solving one difficult riddle. How to liberate the village of Condortl. It took them 4 hours, one would give out suggestions and plans while the other three will try to see the drawbacks and potential flaws in the suggestion. Finally they’ve thought of a strategy that has a 30% chance of success.

Smoke was glad that he had such reliable and wise NPCs as counsel. Even if they will not join him on this quest they had given him everything that he would need to complete it.

“Darius I’m off. If I don’t make it. Well I’ll see you in front of the fountain…”

“Are you really leaving after saying something so ominous? You should always think positive and say something like ‘When I return I shall bring spoils worthy of a heroic general’ or something along those lines.”

“I find that thinking passively tends to hurt less when your expectations are not met but I’ll give thinking positive a try… I will only return after I’ve completed the quest.”

“Well that wasn’t really what I was looking for, but I guess that will have to do.”

Smoke headed towards Mt. Aeriloc the trip should have taken him about 70 days but he did it in 60. He avoided all encounters with monsters. He needed to keep all of his items and equipments in optimum condition for the quest.

As he reached the base of Mt. Aeriloc he looked for three trees that were slightly taller than all the others. This would lead him to the path that James and Howard took in order to spy safely on the lizard people.

Fifteen minutes passed, climbing on the path of Mt. Aeriloc he found a creature out of place in his map. 200 meters ahead was a huge griffon. He thought that their nests would be higher up in the mountain. As his gaze looked up the mountain he found that there were a lot of griffons flying all over the mountain top. This one must have started building its nest in the lower parts of the mountain to avoid competition with the other griffons.

Checking his map for alternative routes he found that he could either go higher up the mountain or down below but he would need to travel between tree tops. He instinctively chose the latter. He was accustomed to working on high places and traveling between trees shouldn’t be so hard with his insane agility and dexterity.

Nimbly jumping from tree to tree it took smoke another hour to see the village. It was noon time and he could see the village clearly. The village was smaller than he had imagined. It was about 1/3 the size of Nanahuatl Village. While looking for a base camp to start his first phase of the plan he heard sounds of fighting.

It was from across the village. He quickly went to the source of the sounds of fighting but paid attention to stay hidden at all times.

On the other side of the forest from Condortl Village was a huge clearing. It was about twice the size of Nanahuatl Village and in this clearing were thousands of lizard people.

Their shacks were built hastily and offered no protection what so ever. They were being attacked by the griffons. Because of the high reproduction rate of the lizard people they had a lot of younglings. The younglings were easy picking for the griffons.

Smoke continued to observe the scene with much scrutiny. In the nursery of the younglings there were residents of Condortl Village forced to guard their future oppressors. Their purpose was more of a distraction rather than a guard since other griffons took the human guards instead of younglings as their prey.

The invasion lasted about 30 minutes. There were about 50 surviving griffons carrying around 10 younglings each and 5 dead griffons were left behind in the lizard people encampment. The lizard people started feasting on the dead griffons.

It was a mutual food cycle, because the lizard people had increased its population this also increased the food source of the griffons and their population as well.

He went back to the tree top which he had chosen to be his base camp. He saw that Condortl Village was actually empty. He tried looking for the entrance to the mines where they were digging for Vitalis. He saw that it was quite some distance from the village.

Smoke moved closer to the entrance of the Vitalis Mines, there were around 10 entrances. When night time came the enslaved residents of Condortl started to slowly come out of the mine’s entrances. There were men, women, children and old people who came out of the mines. He estimated that around 50 to 60 persons came out of each entrance.

His heart was crushed as he saw the tattered people of Condortl. They had been living under these conditions for almost half a century. He was inspired once more to complete this quest at all costs.

He spent the next 7 days observing the surroundings, confirming a few things, and continued on the phase one of their plan. He found out that the griffons attack was a daily occurrence and they always came around noon time. At night the residents of Condortl were separated into groups of 5 and stored into their respective cages.

One virile lizard was assigned to keep watch of one cage but the guards would meet near the weapon vault at the center of the village to hold a slug fest against each other. They also used this fight as a form of gambling as they placed bets on the fighters.

The village was poorly lit at night. Torches were sparsely scattered across the village. Which was one of the important factors in their plan to liberate Condortl.

On his eighth night. He proceeded with phase two. Smoke had a vague idea as to who were the leaders of Condortl. He had prepared a stealthy route towards the leaders’ cages. He planned to visit them during the fist fights of the virile guards.

Smoke successfully reached his first targeted cage undetected…

“Shhh… Calm down. calm down. My name is Smoke. I’m here to free you.”

“My name is Adder. Have you brought an army to kill all of these lizard people?”

“You could say that. Anyway I’d like to confirm that you’re one of the leaders of Condortl correct?”

“Well I really wouldn’t call myself a leader I’m still 25 and most village leaders are from the ages 40 and above but I do take the time to look after my fellow Condortlian.”

“Right. That’s all I needed to know. You see the army that is going to free you is actually you the  Condortlians.”

“What?! You came here by yourself? How in the world do you expect us to fight them. The virile lizards have paralysis spray and we need weapons in order to do enough damage to harm them.”

“I will provide you those weapons and about their paralysis spray I have something that could help somehow.”

“Just how are you planning to do that?!”

“Adder, relax and listen to me. I maybe alone but this plan is our only chance for your freedom. I beg you to have faith and believe in me. I know that you just met me but I am your only hope.”

“Fine! I guess we have no other choice but to give it a try. Even if it means death I would like still like to taste freedom. So let’s hear your plan then.”

“At noon the griffons come to attack the younglings of the lizard people right? During this time I will free you from the mines. There are only 20 guards at most. I’ve started digging inside the mines as well and placed some useful items for you. Once you’ve equipped those items rush out towards the exit and assault the guarding virile lizards. I will distract them, so they should have their backs against you. After we’ve killed the guards we will rush out towards the center of the village to open the weapon vault and slaughter the lizard people!”

“There are too many flaws in this plan. For one there are only about 300 adult warriors left. How do you expect us to defeat 10,000 virile lizards?”

“Well their attention will be focused on the griffons. I have also learned that there is a secret weapon inside your weapon vault that can deal a massive area damage.”

“I’ve never heard of such a weapon. Where did you gain this information? This plan sure feels like a long shot. Well if those are all true and we could somehow access that weapon then I guess we do stand a chance against them.”

“Of course now I just have to spread the details of this plan to the other leaders and we will commence the attack tomorrow noon.”

“Smoke before that can I ask you to head for my wife’s cage. You have to inform my wife Maxine she’s located at that cage, the fourth one to your right. She’s also one of the main leaders of our people she will help spread the word.”

Smoke took note of the cage and nodded. He then silently ran towards Maxine’s cage. The virile lizards guarding the captured Condortlians were still heavily engaged in their blood sport.

“Maxine? Maxine? Are you Maxine? I’m Smoke, I was sent by your husband Adder to inform you about our plan to escape and slaughter the lizard people.”

“Escape? Slaughter? Are you insane? There is no way we could do such a thing…”

Smoke proceeded telling her the same plan that he told Adder. She began to understand the situation and saw that there was indeed a small chance that this plan could succeed. However it all heavily depended on that secret weapon inside Condortl’s Weapon Vault.

“I know that this plan could work, but what about the human guards placed on the youngling’s nursery? Will we just leave them to die? I cannot allow this. Please include this as you spread the plan, that I will be volunteering together with 3 others to guard the younglings. During this time the others should just concede. I’m proud of my agility. I can manage to dodge those griffons. I will find a way to get back here and meet all of you at the weapon vault.”

“Wow that’s quite a noble thing to do Maxine. Alright I will inform everyone about your plan as well. So good luck for tomorrow then. I’ll continue to spread the word as much as I can. I think the guards are coming back soon.”

Smoke continued on to the other cages of the leaders and he relayed the ‘updated’ plan. Every Condortlian was excited. Not one of them got any sleep at all. They wanted to get to the mines and start looking for the items that Smoke had mentioned.

Morning finally came. As the sun rose so did the hearts of the Condortlians. They were too excited to extract their revenge. After being enslaved for so long this was the day that they had been praying for. They were escorted as usual into their respective mines.

Smoke readied himself on the platforms that he had built on top of the tree tops. He had built them to surround the entire Condortl Village. He could now move swiftly from one tree to another and gain an advantageous line of sight on the whole village. He had everything prepared. All he was waiting for was for noon to arrive.

The fated hour has finally arrived! It was noon time and the thunderous screeching of the griffons were echoed all over Condortl. The griffons could be heard heading towards the encampment of the lizard people.

Today there were only 10 guards on watch over the mines’ entrances. The Condortlians came out equipped with gas masks made from the pelts of the rabid raccoons and sharp mantis blades.

Smoke learned the ability ‘animal skin tailoring’ from Howard Hide and James Jackal it was a special kind of tailoring that focused on animal skin/hide/pelt, there were no other passive bonus from the ability aside from being able to craft equippable items with certain effects.

Smoke had been crafting raccoon pelt gas masks on his way towards Condortl. The gas masks didn’t have the immunity against the paralysis spray since he was still in the beginner stage of ‘animal skin tailoring’. However Howard taught him a way to make one that would be at least 50% resistant to paralysis spray and lessen the duration of paralysis.

With those two items equipped the Condortlians felt invincible against the 10 guards. The guards tried spraying everyone with paralysis but they didn’t stop and continued to hack the virile lizard guards where they stood.

Smoke pulled out 3 poison pellets from his bag and crushed them. He then threw them inside his quiver of arrows on his back. He wanted to try out his new arrows, sniping out the virile lizards that were further away from the Condortlians.

+ Attack hit virile lizard. +POISON DMG. virile lizard has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 1839.
+ Attack hit virile lizard. +POISON DMG. virile lizard has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 1811.
+ Attack hit virile lizard. +POISON DMG. virile lizard has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 1823.
+ Attack hit virile lizard. +POISON DMG. virile lizard has been poisoned. BACK ATTACK. Damage 735.
+ Attack hit virile lizard. +POISON DMG. virile lizard has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 1835.
+ Attack hit virile lizard. +POISON DMG. virile lizard has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 1840.
+ Attack hit virile lizard. +POISON DMG. virile lizard has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 1842.
+ Attack hit virile lizard. +POISON DMG. virile lizard has been poisoned. BACK ATTACK. Damage 768.

The virile lizards life bar indicated that it had a total HP of (3,216/16,000) The poison damage didn’t give us much damage as the fire arrows which were a weakness to the plant monsters. However it did leave an after effect of continued poison damage.

Smoke picked another virile lizard as his target and executed 8 swift shots with an average of 1800 damage each. He continued the same pattern until he hit all the virile lizards that were far away from the Condortlians.

+ Your poison has dealt a fatal blow to the virile lizard.
+ You’ve killed the virile lizard.
+ You’ve gained 6000 exp.

Smoke went down from his hidden sniping post and headed towards the Condortlians. A few minutes later another notification.

+ Your poison has dealt a fatal blow to the virile lizard.
+ You’ve killed the virile lizard.
+ You’ve gained 6000 exp.

They have successfully killed the 10 virile lizards guarding the mines. Smoke reached Adder and the rest of the Condortlians. Adder had gathered them and waited for Smoke. Smoke stood before all of them. They were looking at him with intense anticipation. Like raging bulls waiting to be released from their bullpen.

“Today is the day you unleash all of your pent up anger! Today is the day you give them hell! Today is the day that Condortl becomes FREE!!! JOIN ME TOWARDS FREEDOM!!!”

+  In order to wipe out the lizard people.          All the residents of Condortl Village has temporarily joined your party.

The Condortlians led by Adder charged towards the center of Condortl Village rushing towards the weapon vault. They brandished their mantis blades and were protected with the raccoon masks. Just as they reached the entrance of the Village. They saw a disturbing sight.

Maxine was at the center of the village. She was commanding the virile lizards. As she saw the Condortlians at the entrance of the Village she slowly broke out of her skin and transformed into a fecund lizard. She was the matron of the lizard people.

The whole village of Condortl was overrun by virile lizards. Only the younglings were left behind at the lizard people encampment. They were snarling and screaming, waiting for their matron’s order.

Adder’s shock froze him like a statue. His wife was dead the whole time and in her place was a fecund lizard. How long has she been dead? Because she was moved to a different cage they rarely talked to each other the past few years , but he still loved her dearly.

Neither side made a move. Everyone was waiting for their leader’s order. The Condortlians were outnumbered 20 to 1 however no one was afraid. They were waiting for this day of retribution. Live or die one thing was assured, today will be the last day of their enslavement.

As the two sides waited in suspended animation a ring of fire erupted and surrounded the whole village. From the vantage view of his built platforms on the tree tops, Smoke had set a blaze the fire trap that he built circumnavigating Condortl Village. As the whole village was engulfed in flames he let out another rain of fire arrows. The arrow’s targets were special bags scattered all over the village.

The arrows hit their marks. Gray smoke started to come out from the bags. Inside the bags where dried ‘mandragora flowers’ which causes hallucination and nightmares. The fire kept the smoke from the mandragora flowers inside the village. Smoke then yelled towards the Condortlians.

“Quickly regroup into the 5 person team from your cages! Surround the whole village. There will be stragglers trying to escape. Kill all of them as they step out of the fire! Today justice will be served!”

Adder regained his senses as he heard Smoke’s orders. He joined his 5 person team and started searching for escaping lizards.

As the Condortlians were traveling around the village. Screams of terror and sounds of fighting were heard from inside the inferno. The lizard people were fighting with each other.

The Condortlians were quick on their feet. After all this were their chance for revenge. They effectively surrounded the village in groups of 5. They were around 20 meters away from each group.

Just as Smoke predicted some virile lizards started coming out of the fire. The virile lizards coming out were almost dead and only took a few slashes from their mantis blades to die.

Smoke was firing his poison arrows in random into the black smoke that covered the whole village. After firing a couple of shots. He would jump into another platform to execute the same thing. He was trying to hit all the lizard people inside the village.

The blazing battle continued for another 2 hours. Smoke only had 100 arrows left. He would be forced to join them on the ground soon.

Adder was fighting a dying virile lizard one on one as his other 4 teammates were dealing with another one. He had just killed the lizard when suddenly the matron fecund lizard stepped out from the flames.

“Adder I didn’t think I would have the pleasure to kill you.”

“You wretched demon! You killed my wife! How long has she been dead?!”

“Wouldn’t you like to know? What good would that knowledge serve a dead person?”

Carrying green dual knives the fecund lizard matron leaps out towards Adder. She is an exceptional fighter. Her agility is probably around 800. She continued to hit Adder for around 200 damage points.

The noble warrior tried all of his abilities and techniques but didn’t hit the matron at all. He only kept getting slashed. The only redeeming thing was that the slashes were only for 200 damage.

Adder’s life was now only (31,974/67,204 HP) While the matron’s life bar still did not show which meant that she was not hit once since the start of the battle.

Smoke saw the death match below. He quickly went down to help Adder. Adder was desperate there was no way he could ever hit the matron. He saw Smoke coming down from one of the trees.

Adder was ready to give his life in order to kill the murderer of his wife. As soon as the matron came in to give him another slash, he released the mantis blade.

He grabbed the matron with both arms and clinched her with all his might. The matron kept on slashing Adder. Trying to get free.

Smoke switched to his dual knives and drove them deep into the matron’s back.

+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. BACK ATTACK. Damage 166.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 415.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 409.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. BACK ATTACK. Damage 184.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 420.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 418.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 411.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. BACK ATTACK. Damage 173.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 412.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 407.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. BACK ATTACK. Damage 181.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 415.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 409.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. BACK ATTACK. Damage 169.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 413.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. BACK ATTACK. Damage 175.
+ Attack hit Matron: Alteria. +POISON DMG. she has been poisoned. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 407.

At last the Matron’s life bar appeared. Her life bar indicated that she has (34,416/40,000 HP) left. Her life wasn’t that high but her dodge rate was insane. It is nearly impossible to hit her. If it wasn’t for Adder’s sacrifice Smoke would’ve most likely missed as well.

The Matron Alteria tried to stab Smoke but she couldn’t reach him. She decided that it would be a race to see who would die first. Adder’s life was only (14,974/67,204 HP). Soon he would be dead and she would be freed from his death grip.

Smoke’s damage with the knives was much smaller compared to the bow because he focused all of his stats towards dexterity. He regretted making that decision now. He tried his hardest to move faster in order to kill the matron first before she kills Adder.

Adder was on the verge of death when 4 mantis blades lodged into the matron’s body. She stopped her slashing attacks. She stopped moving completely.

+ Your party has dealt a fatal blow to Fecund Lizard Matron: Alteria.
+ Your party killed the Fecund Lizard Matron: Alteria.
+ Your party gained 60,000 exp.

As the body of the Fecund Lizard Matron started to fade away, it left behind a precious loot.

+ Acquired rare dual knives: ‘Tails of the Virile and Fecund Lizards’.

As the usual action for all boss item drops. Smoke excitedly inspected his second BOSS loot. Completely forgetting everything else.

Tails of the Virile and Fecund Lizards (Dual Knives)   A rare green knife said to be the symbol of the male and female of the lizard people.   Restricted to jobs based on any variations of a Thief.     Damage: 20-30   Equipment Ability:     *Paralysis (Active)       + you can cast paralysis on each attack at the cost of 200 MP per attack.       + paralysis does not stack       + paralysis duration depends on the target, for a target with 0 resistance it will last for 20 seconds.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO! This knife is such a great item and I can’t even use it! Damn it!”

After shouting out his disappointment he embarrassingly remembered that Adder was dying. He quickly went to the gathering crowd that surrounded Adder.

“Adder are you alright? Is he stable? Are there any medics in the village?”

“Calm down Smoke. Adder is stable. He isn’t bleeding to death if that’s what you’re afraid of. We do know how to use first aid but unfortunately there are no medics of any kind left here in Condortl.”

“Well if you’re sure his stable then I’m sure that Adder will be strong enough to recuperate somehow.”

Smoke hurriedly climbed up the tree tops once more. He wanted a bird’s eye view of the village. He wanted to know if there were any lizard people left. The fire and the smoke from the dried mandragora flowers were slowly fading away.

From the tree tops Smoke saw the inside of the village, he saw thousands of piled up dead bodies of lizard people. They had died fighting each other. He also saw some people still fighting some surviving virile lizards but he knew that they were no longer a threat.

After seeing the last of the virile lizards dead. Smoke shouted and called out to the Condortlians to gather towards his voice. Once the Condortlians were gathered. He told them that the battle is still not over.

There was still the lizard people’s encampment that they need to wipe out. Around 100 people were left behind to tend to the injured. While the rest headed towards the vast clearing.

Usually seeing such a disaster would tear your heart apart but the gathered crowd only wore smiles on their faces. What stood before them was a completely destroyed encampment. The bodies of the younglings were scattered everywhere. The griffons had wiped out the encampment for them.

Only after seeing such a scene did Smoke and the Condortlians feel that battle was finally won. Condortl Village was now finally free once more!

+ For Leading the Condortlians to Freedom you’ve gained +10 points in Leadership     Your Leadership stat has now increased to 11 which entitles you to own a private army of 11 NPCs

The battle was officially over. Through the course of the battle Smoke had gained a total of 3 levels. The kills that the Condortlians did, gave Smoke some shared exp.

The Condortlians were gathered outside the entrance of Condortl. The village was in complete ruin. The recovering residents of Condortl were tired.

Smoke was making some medicinal deer stew in order to feed the Condortlians. There wasn’t enough for all of them so he had to make them into smaller portions.

They had used all of their strength in their battle for freedom. Everyone was exhausted and were trying to regain some vitality. They welcomed the soup even if it was only a little.

After the residents has finished eating. The acting village chief came forward to call everyone’s attention.

“May I ask our savior Smoke to step forward and kneel before me?”

Smoke was confused on what exactly was going on. It had only been 2 hours since they won the battle. Everyone should have been trying to recover from their fatigue and injuries. 

“All of us here are now free because of one man. This man is a total stranger to us. We only came to know about him last night. But he has told me that this plan was actually made by two former Condortlians, James Jackal and Howard Hide. They were fortunate enough to escape on the night of the enslavement. Since then they tried everything in their power to free us. They asked for help among the other villages but all of the villages denied them. Except for Nanahuatl Village. I’m sure some of you may have noticed this heroic endeavor. They were a group of 100 men who tried to save us in our early days of captivity. Unfortunately they couldn’t break the overwhelming numbers that the lizard people had over them. After several years later the gods has finally shown their favor towards us once again. They sent him our savior Smoke.”

Smoke smiled with sincerity, he raised his hand and tried to bow down to everyone in the crowd.

“It has taken more than 50 years for their plan to come into fruition but it was all worth it. Smoke must have spent days in order to follow through with the plan. I was very afraid when I saw that the lizard people had gathered in front of the weapon vault. I thought that it was all over. We will surely die.”

“The wise counsel that I got from James and Howard was that it was highly likely that there was a fecund lizard hiding within the residents. In order to keep track of potential jail breaks and other attempts of escape. If it wasn’t for those two. I’m sure we wouldn’t be so lucky as to be able to eradicate the lizard people.”

“Such humble words coming from our savior. I’m sure there wouldn’t be any objections with my next announcement. I Eldmar acting village chief of Condortl bestow upon Smoke the title ‘Savior of Condortl: Honorary Chief of Condortl’. Arise Chief Smoke and greet your people.”

+ Gained Title: ‘Savior of Condortl: Honorary Chief of Condortl’     The title was given by the people of Condortl for rescuing them from the slavery. As such they have shown their fealty to you and will help you in anyway they can.   * +2 to all basic stats   * Intimacy with the Condortlians has increased to ‘Revered Hero’   * You’re now responsible for the well being of the Condortlians.   * If all the Condortlians die the title will be stripped off.

“Wow! A title, I didn’t expect that at all. I don’t know what to say myself. All I know is that I will do everything in my power to protect your freedom and help you rebuild Condortl Village.”

Everyone cheered. They couldn’t be happier for having Smoke as their ‘honorary chief’. The people wanted to celebrate but their bodies refused to cooperate with them. As it was getting dark they all agreed to postpone their celebrations.

The next few days were planned on how to rebuild the village. However they could not start yet without confirming the daily attacks from the incoming griffons.

All the warriors of Condortl readied themselves. They were equipped with better armor and now some range weapons. They hid within the forest as they were waiting for the griffons to arrive.

They saw a few griffons from the horizon. The griffons were screeching as they started to land on the vast clearing. They were pecking though the debris but found nothing. After a few more minutes they flew off towards their mountain.

Seeing the griffons fly off. The Condortlians felt relieved most likely they will try to look for another food source since the lizard people has been wiped out. However they knew that they had to stay vigilant at all times.

The item drops from the lizard people were ‘hard green scales’ which Smoke found to be very useful. He showed everyone on how to use this as a material for their roofs. With their green color it would serve as a great camouflage in the forest. Working as a construction worker in his real life really helped him a lot on this quest.

The raw vitalis gem stones that they mined also gave some regenerative effect. These gems were all placed in the center of the village to help increase productivity since it fought off their hunger and fatigue.

Hunting parties were formed since most of the monsters in the nearby forests were wiped out by the lizard people. The hunting party would need to travel some distance in order to get meat.

A few days passed and reconstruction of Condortl village continued smoothly. Everyone had a positive out look in life. They were all ‘live in the moment’ atmosphere. Smoke had only experienced such a feeling when the residents of Nanahuatl Village started to regain their strength.

Smoke has also brought some root crops from Nanahuatl and asked around if there were any farmers in Condortl. Luckily enough there were still a few of them left.

As the village was starting to take shape. Adder also started to recover. As he was fit enough to walk, he went to find Smoke.

“Smoke. Thank you for freeing us. All I ever wanted was freedom. Maxine and I would’ve raised our children here in peace but that dream is gone now…”

“I’m really sorry for you loss. I only figured out it was Maxine when she volunteered to replace the forced guards on the younglings. That was a clear ploy in order to inform her men.”

“So there never was a secret weapon hidden in the weapon vault that could defeat the lizard people?”

“Nope there was no such weapon inside the vault. The weapon was always inside your hearts. It was the bravery and courage of the outnumbered Condortlians to face the numerous lizard people.”

“Yeah I guess that does make sense. We lost our will to fight and only waited for the day to be free. We didn’t even try to free ourselves. If it weren’t for you inspiring us I think we would’ve stayed that way for the next hundred years.”

“I was also lucky enough to have you believe in me Adder. As I spread the word and used your name. It was easier to convince everyone to fight.”

“Yeah I was ready to die in that battle. In fact the past few days I was lost. I didn’t know what to do with myself.”

“Don’t be like that Adder, I’m sure there are still plenty of things in this world to live for.”

“Aye, you’re right. Seeing you and my fellow Condortlians rebuild the village enlightened me.”

“The despicable things that we experienced here are not unique to us Condortlians. I am sure that somewhere else in the world of ZECTAS there are other people being oppressed and maltreated. That is why I have made my decision to serve you as my master.”

+ Abaven Adder has joined your Personal Army     Abaven Adder is a noble warrior of Condortl. He was one of the next in line to become Village Chief.   After you freed Condortl he was enlightened on the path of seeking equality and liberation for everyone.   Abaven Adder has decided that the easiest way to accomplish that goal is to become your follower.   Level: 70   Job: Warrior   Loyalty: 100   Favorite Weapon: Two Handed Bastard Sword   Equipped Weapon: Mantis Blade   Abilities:   Death Grip: Able to hold on to any weapon/person until the point of death.   Self-Heal: Has a natural high regeneration rate   Two Handed Mastery: Is able to equip most Two Handed Weapons

Smoke was surprised. He had thought that he had to have some sort of military rank in order to start a private army. Apparently an NPC can join with their own volition.

“Whoa! You’re joining my private army? I’m glad that you feel that way. I too feel the same. That freedom should be for everyone. However I must inform you that I have an important personal mission. This mission takes precedence to everything even if I may commit acts of notoriety I wouldn’t mind at all. My mission is to get my revenge on Tristan and all his men.”

“Master Smoke, you said revenge right? Then they must have committed an unforgivable act that deserves just punishment. I trust your judgment and will not question them easily. I stick with my decision to serve you as my master.”

“Can you perhaps drop the ‘Master’ part? I’m not to comfortable with it. Calling me Smoke is just fine. So as long as you feel that I have not led you astray from your path of enlightenment then I welcome you to my private army. I do not want you to feel constrained in any way.”

“Thank you Smoke. I swear upon Maxine’s spirit that I will serve you to the best of my abilities.”

“I know that you will do more than just that Adder. Alright now that we’ve settled that why don’t we continue on rebuilding Condortl? You are fit to work now right?”

It appears that peace has returned to the Village of Condortl. Soon Smoke and Adder will head back towards Nanahuatl to complete Smoke’s quest and gain 2 family tokens at once. Just 1 more family token in order to get the ‘Hidden Basic Job of Nanahuatl Village’.

As the peaceful village of Condortl was slowly being rebuilt by it’s citizens. Cold yellow eyes with black slits watched them from a far. After confirming the scene, the hooded figure started running with such high agility that the hooded figure could only be seen as a blur. As the village grew farther away the hooded figure stopped.

She took off her hood and revealed the frightful face of a fecund lizard. She took out a magical golden plate from her bag. Nicked her finger tip with her knife and dropped a few drops of blood on one of the receptacles of the magical plate. The center of the magical golden plate started to change into a watery screen.

“I have confirmed it High General. The Matron Alteria and her colony of lizard people have all been killed.”

“So our supply of vitalis is going to be short this month then. Well no matter, Matron Olveria’s colony has started to grow and they will make up for the lacking vitalis gems. Tell me Spyteria who was responsible for their deaths?”

“It was a Dark Elf called Smoke…”

“Spyteria I want you to keep track of his movement. We will not let this grave transgression go unpunished!”

“As you command High General Lizardo…”

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