Smoke rushed towards the flattened ember sprite, disregarding the iron golem entirely. As he drew nearer he felt the temperature rising.
He sat down beside the dying ember sprite and tried to check if there was some way he could revive it.
The monster saw Smoke. It tried to grab him as he was only a couple of feet away. As it did this. The hunters focused their attacks on its head.
The fire arrow shots to the head, caused the iron golem to be disoriented. Its head just kept on spinning as it received the fire arrows.
When the Hunters saw this, they carried on the same attack. The iron golem had no chance to recover. It just sat there with its head spinning from the fire arrows damage. Until finally its last life point disappeared.
+ Your party has dealt a fatal blow to the Iron Golem: Ferros.
+ Your party has killed the Iron Golem: Ferros.
+ Your party has gained 90,000 exp.
Smoke didn't mind the system notifications. All his attention was on the expiring ember sprite. He luckily remembered a useful information. In one of the books he learned on his way to Ignizoc Forest.
There was a way to share your current life points to another entity by permanently losing 10% of your maximum mana capacity. Your maximum life points would stay the same but the mana capacity will be permanently lost. Of course if you level up, your mana capacity will increase once more. Just as it did before.
Without hesitation he performed the procedures stated on his 'Acquired Knowledge' window. He was covered in an aura that switched colors between red and blue.
He then placed both of his palms on top of the dying ember sprite. He felt a surge of energy flow from his hands towards the sprite.
As Smoke finished the procedure. The dark purple ember sprite started to open its eyes. Smoke thought he saw a smile form on the sprite's mouth. Slowly it started to float and began to hover around him.
+ Gained Symbiote: 'Dark Ember Sprite'
The dark ember sprite is said to be a mutation of the regular red ember sprite.
As such it has 10x stronger than the red ember sprite.
Since it's the only one of its kind in an ember sprite community.
It is often found to be picked on by the red ember sprites.
It will not retaliate as it knows that it could kill the normal red ember sprites.
Symbiosis:
* With every maximum mana increase, the Dark Ember Sprite absorbs 10% of that value
* Your Fire resistance attribute has increased to 50%
* You can now actively cast Fire enhancements
|
The Hunters went to where Smoke was sitting. The 'Dark Ember Sprite' continued hovering around Smoke happily. Making dark purple orbits around him.
As they got closer they immediately felt the heat. They stayed about 3 meters away from where Smoke was. As he saw this. He called for the 'Dark Ember Sprite' to stop.
"Can you tone down the heat a bit? I'm the only one with 50% Fire resistance here."
The Dark Ember Sprite understood and promptly obeyed Smoke's command. Gradually the temperature started to return to normal.
"Wow what was that? Did that ember sprite just follow your orders?"
"Yeah, it did. Everyone I'd like you to meet Igniz. I've decided to name him after this forest."
The Hunters were at awe. Smoke managed to gain an ember sprite. They didn't know what the ember sprite's abilities were. But still, it looked pretty cool hovering around Smoke.
With Igniz now fully recovered, Smoke focused his attention on the red ember sprites. But couldn't find any of them in the clearing.
He went to the place where the iron golem was slain. He picked up the 'electro stone' and held it close to examine it.
Now, with the electro stone in his possession. He was ready to face the murlocks and lamias once more.
Power and Humility
Smoke and his private army of Hunters started their journey back to Nanahuatl Village. While traveling, Smoke was acquiring the knowledge from the book entitled 'The History of Ancient Zectas'. The progress bar indicated that it would need 24 hours to finish.
Before, he used to find traveling to be really tedious, but now that he has learned about 'acquiring knowledge' from books, he finds the long distances to be pleasant and therapeutic. Because the most destinations takes a couple of days, he has already absorbed a number of books.
As the progress bar for the book 'The History of Ancient Zectas' indicated that it would be completed in one minute, Smoke called for the party to stop, rest, and start preparing a meal. He wanted to be in a focused state when the absorbed knowledge window pops up.
+ The History of Ancient Zectas
During the time when the great
gods 'Tlaltezin', 'Chalchizin', 'Tezcazin', and 'Cuezaltzin' left the
world alone, the reptilian race being smarter, stronger, and faster than
the other races ruled the world.
They had enslaved all the
other races. The orks were strong but they weren't too smart. The elves
were smart but they were few in numbers. The dwarves were stout, but
they were simply overpowered. Many other races tried to rebel against
the reptilian race, but all of them ended with the same result. They
were all enslaved.
Within the reptilian race, there was also a
hierarchy of power. From lowest to highest were the Lizardites (lizard
people), the Chameleonese (chameleon people), the Crocodilians
(crocodile people), and the Draconian (dragon people).
The
reptilian race divided the world of Zectas amongst themselves. The
Lizardites took the West, the Chameleonese took the South, the
Crocodilians took the North, and the Draconians took the East.
The leader of the Lizardites, High General Vinceretus, wanted to rule
all of the reptiles. He was sick of being the lowest ranking High
General. Together with the High Generals of the Chameleonese and the
Crocodilians, they planned a rebellion.
High General Muttus of
the Chameleonese and High General Stultus of the Crocodilians both
thought the same thing. They would use the Lizardites as bait. Once the
campaign against the Draconians is over, they would just fight it out
amongst themselves. Chameleonese versus Crocodilians.
With the
three reptile races united, they faced the Draconian Empire. However,
even with their combined forces they still couldn't defeat the mighty
Draconians.
Realizing that victory wasn't possible, High
General Muttus and High General Stultus defected back into the Draconian
fold. They told Supreme High General Ultimus that it was all
Vinceretus' doing. They were just coerced into joining the rebellion.
High General Vinceretus was prepared for their treachery. For some time
he has been studying the forbidden dark arts. Using his gained
knowledge, he summoned the fallen reptiles from their rebellion.
This time with his army of undead reptiles, High General Vinceretus launched a counterattack on all the three reptile races.
Their war lasted for years. But High General Vinceretus' source of
power in summoning the undead was running out. He was using the lives of
his people. In sacrificing 10,000 lizardites he was able to produce one
blood invoker stone. Able to reanimate 100,000 conscripts of undead.
Yet because of the great world war of the reptiles, the whole
population of the reptilian race decreased drastically. No matter what
reptilian race it was, they were barely in the thousands.
Seizing this opportunity, the other races joined forces. They fought the
weak and dying reptiles. The enslaved races were united with one goal:
freedom for all.
And so the joint army of the enslaved races gained victory. This is how the reign of the reptiles ended.
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+ Your total 'Acquired Knowledge' has increased your Intelligence by 1.
Smoke was thrilled. It has finally happened. He had learned from one of the books, that if you acquire a certain amount of knowledge you can gain Intelligence stats.
It takes 10 points of Intelligence before the maximum mana capacity increases. Smoke has estimated that the increase would be around 12%. Deducting Igniz's 10% symbiosis would mean that he would still gain 2%.
He had to acquire the knowledge of 50 books before he got that 1 point Intelligence stat. Yet he was not discouraged. For he has also learned from the book 'An Introduction to Stats Part IV' that acquiring a book's knowledge could be hastened if you can gain the 'Wisdom' attribute.
However, the exact procedure for gaining the Wisdom attribute still eluded him. It was supposed to be in the book entitled 'Stats and their Secrets'. Sadly, Darius' library didn't have that book.
Now that he has completed that previous book, he picked up a new one to start the process of gaining knowledge once more.
After they were done with their food, the party proceeded towards Nanahuatl Village.
Back in Nanahuatl, the Hunters returned to their homes and their families, while Smoke hurriedly looked for Adder. He went to his house were Adder was supposed to be recuperating, but he didn't find him there.
He went to ask Darius if he knew where Adder was. Darius coincidentally just stepped out of his to greet Smoke.
"Hello, Smoke, I take it that you've slain the iron golem with ease? But what's this? Is that a dark ember sprite hovering around you?"
"Hi, Darius. Yup! He's called Igniz. I've named him after Ignizoc Forest. He was squashed by the iron golem, and I accidentally made him my symbiote as I tried to save his life."
"Hmm, I've thought about making a symbiote myself. But the drawback of it diminishing my maximum mana was too much for me. You see, I'm very much dependent on Mana."
"I would guess that as well. Seeing as that you have the appearance of an ArchMage."
"ArchMage? Well I guess I do look like one. But let me tell you now that I'm not an ArchMage."
"Yes, yes, I know. I've already figured out what the hidden basic job is, and let me tell you that I like it. At first I wasn't really sure of how I felt since I was expecting a different kind of job. But then after realizing that it was the same as your job, I knew that I would grow to like it."
"Really? So it's because of me that you like the hidden job that I have to offer? Most people would reject it as soon as they hear it. I'm glad that I was able to inspire you in some ways, Smoke."
"Also, after acquiring the knowledge of countless books, I knew that I would love being a librarian."
"Librarian? What do you mean librarian?"
"You know, the hidden job. It's the hidden job of a librarian right? Drop the act Darius. I already know that the hidden job is a librarian."
"No, you've guessed wrong it really isn't. I'm not trying to pull your leg or anything, but I really thought that you had figured out what the hidden job was. I guess you will have to wait and see until you complete the quest."
"Classic Darius, always sticking to the 'You've guessed wrong' act. Well, alright, I'll play along. I sure look forward to knowing what the hidden job is."
"No, it really isn't a librarian. I don't know where you got the idea that I'm a librarian but I'm not. I just love reading books. That's why I have a decent private library."
"Okay, okay. Anyway, can you tell me where I can find Adder? I want to see if he's feeling better."
"Oh, right, about that. Adder asked me to give you a message. It states that until he has mastered his new weapon, he won't be coming back. In other words, he left the village to train."
"New weapon? What's his new weapon? When did he leave?"
"He left a few days after you did. He asked me to forge a special sword. He had already asked me to craft the weapon while I was still healing him. He also told me not to tell you what kind of sword it is. Just in case he couldn't master it. But knowing Adder, I'm sure he'll return here after accomplishing the impossible."
"I was hoping that he was well enough to join on us against the murlocks. I wanted him to see every last one of them dead. I wanted to show him how sorry I am for losing his arm."
"Well, I'm sure he knows that too, Smoke. Anyway, before you head out raining vengeance against the murlocks, I want you to meet a couple of people."
"Who? Don't tell me that Adder was just hiding inside your house all this time, Darius?"
"No, no, no, Adder went away to train. Deal with it. Just come inside and meet them."
"Oh, okay."
Once inside Smoke saw two well built men. They were part of the eight archers that Darius trained.
They look to be at least six and half feet tall. They have forest green skin and pointy ears. They also have identical faces. They looked to be elves but Smoke has never seen an elf with forest green skin before.
Smoke thought that they must be brothers just like Vijaya and Sharanga. He just realized that he didn't really remember much of the eight archers when they were introduced for the first time.
