Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn (15 page)

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Smoke sat in front of the large wooden doors in the secluded seminary up in the boondocks. It was the third morning after Flora brought him here.
EEEEKK TUDUG
Smoke heard the creaking sound of the large doors opening.
"Faux, you're here!" exclaimed Flora. "I thought you couldn't make it in time."
"Gee, thanks for believing in me," said Smoke.
"Oh, he's really here," said Eleve, who appeared behind the little red-haired HighElf.
Looking at the two of them, Smoke thought they looked like a lovely picture of a granddaughter and her grandmother, excluding their blunt mouths and hot tempers of course.
'I wonder if they really are related?' thought Smoke to himself.
"What are you staring at?" suddenly asked Eleve. "Get on with it."
Smoke bowed down before her, and went over to where there were plenty of earth.
"Listen, even if it's you asking, this will be his last chance," Eleve said to Flora. "I'm a firm believer of what I was taught, and that is not to teach those without talent."
"You really are disrespectful," said Flora. "Did you know that?"
Eleve guffed.
"Hey, boy, what in the world are you waiting for?" asked Eleve. "The great gods would return from their place of hiding, just to knock you on the head for making us wait."
Smoke took in a deep breath and used his Master Level Earth Manipulation. He molded a clay golem, after the image of his metallic golems. However, these ones were stouter.
"Well, at least he could do something now," said Eleve, unimpressed.
Then, Smoke used his Animate ability on the clay golem. He gave it a simple command to patrol twenty meters forward, and back again to its original position. The difficult part was setting in the instructions. When he practiced in Souer Settlement, he destroyed a large portion of Esper's wall. Of course, he fixed it before leaving for the seminary.
"Now, that's something you don't see everyday," said Eleve. "A walking soulless doll. Oh, wait a minute. They do seem vaguely familiar."
The elderly HighElf clapped her hands, and more than fifty Automaton Iron Knights stepped outside the seminary.
"Oh, come on, Eleve!" said Flora. "Imagine what he did in that short amount of time? He's now capable of making an Automaton."
"No, I find it unsatisfactory," said Eleve. "Faux, why don't you create a ring for me. About the same size as the one you saw in Votl City."
Unaware of Eleve's intention, Smoke obediently followed the elder HighElf's order. He created a circular ring in front of the seminary.
"It lacks décor and finesse, but this will do," said Eleve. "Now, if that clay golem of yours can defeat one of my Automatons, then I shall allow you to be a student of the Florissant Seminary."
"Thank you for this opportunity," said Smoke. "But can I have a bit of time to prepare my creation?"
"Certainly," said Eleve. "Normally, I would tell you to take all the time you need. But I'm afraid that you would actually use the entire day. So, you have ten minutes."
"That is very generous of you," said Smoke.
After roughly gauging the strength of the Iron Knights, Smoke concentrated on encoding all of the possible conditions he could add into his golem. He gave his clay creation an additional 240,000 of his MP, allowing it to fight for at most eight minutes.
"The rules will be the same as the Gagnant Tournament, right?" asked Smoke.
"Yes, yes. Now, get on with it," said Eleve.
With his battle strategy ingrained into his clay golem, Smoke raised it up with his Earth Manipulation and carefully placed it on top of the ring.
Eleve signaled one of the Iron Knights to step onto the ring as well.
Two Automatons stood on the ring, emotionless and blankly staring at each other.
"Begin!" yelled out Eleve.
At once, her Iron Knight unsheathed its sword, revealing it to be a claymore. It cleanly sliced its blade across Smoke's clay golem.
However, the blade only entered halfway through and got stuck in the middle of the golem's chest.
Smoke's clay golem then grabbed the Iron Knight's shoulders. Its hands melted and fused with each other, locking the Iron Knight inside it.
The clay golem then lifted the Iron Knight off the ground, and slowly walked over to the edge of the ring.
The Iron Knight struggled to free its claymore from the clay golem's chest, but its effort were futile. There was no stopping the clay golem from completing its programming.
Emotionless, the clay golem detached its hands and dropped the Iron Knight off the ring. Upon doing so, it completed its objective and crumbled from existence.
A blue light then flew out from the golem's rubble, and went directly to Smoke, returning all of the unused MP to him.
CLAP CLAP CLAP
"That was unexpected," said Eleve, as she continued to do a slow clap.
"So, how was it? Am I in?" asked Smoke.
"I am HighElf of my word. From now on, you will be a student of the Florissant Academy," said Eleve.
"Thanks," said Smoke, lowering his head before Eleve. "I am honored to be under your tutelage, and be trained in the ways of the Earth."
"Eh? What are you talking about? I'm not an Earth Magi," said Eleve. "I have studied under Magietrois Florissant, and have mastered her secrets of the Flames."

Despite having a decent-sized room, Nash still felt cramped inside it. His Zectas game pod took a fourth of the space. Coupled with his newly hanged punching bag and computer table, he barely had enough room to do his stretching exercises.
'Maybe the garage was a better place for the punching bag,' he thought, while shaking his head in disapproval with himself.
He stretched out his arms and sat down in front of his computer screen. He clicked on his unedited video of Colere and Esper in Souer Settlement. The two OrkElf leaders were standing next to a large clay tank, filled with floating white membranes of pomegranates.
"What now?" asked Colere.
"Well, you remove the floaters completely, then begin pounding the seeds at the bottom," said Nash's voice in his DarkElf character.
"Alright, you heard the man," Colere said to Esper, and the two of them began removing the floating white membranes.
"Wait, Esper, can you ask another male OrkElf to take your place?" asked Smoke. "And make sure he looks like Colere."
"What now?" asked Esper. "Faux, you've been acting strange since you got here. First you have us perform this weird experiment, and now you want me to look for someone who looks like my husband?"
"Yeah, Faux, you're asking for the impossible," said Colere. "No one is as handsome as me."
"Oh! Really?" asked Esper. "Wait right here!"
After a few seconds, Esper returned with an identical-looking OrkElf to Colere. "Faux, his name is Wachs. Don't you think they could pass off as twins?"
"Definitely!" exclaimed Smoke. "Great job, Esper."
While fishing out the pomegranate's floating white membranes, Colere kept grumbling to himself. "He doesn't look like me at all."
"Now, Colere, I want you to call Wachs as Jinggu," began Smoke. "And, Wachs, I want you to call Colere as Sharur. You got that?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah. I've done that a hundred times," said Wachs. "You're one of those DarkElves who like to play pretend that we're OrkElves named Jinggu and Sharur."
Wachs paused. "Which am I, again? Sharur, right?"
"No, you're Jinggu. I'm the one you're suppose to call Sharur," said Colere. "But, Faux, what's this for?What does Jinggu and Sharur mean anyway?"
"Well, in Wysteria, it means honorable and brave friends who are willing to die for you," said Smoke.
"Which one? Sharur or Jinggu?" asked Esper.
"Both," said Smoke.
"That doesn't make sense," said Colere. "How could they mean both when—"
"They just do, okay?" said Smoke, exasperated. "Now, please let's just continue with this experiment. I promise, you two won't regret it."
"Of course, you know we trust you," said Colere. "So, what do we do next?"
"Oh! You're really one of those DarkElves," interrupted Wachs. "Maybe you want Esper to be called as Sierra?"
"Now, who's Sierra," asked Colere, intrigued.
"Oh, it's one of those characters that the Sonstwelters like their OrkElves Mercenaries to be called. The most popular ones are Sharur, Jinggu, and then there's Sierra," explained Wachs. "Well, sometimes they also add another name. I think it was... Adder, yeah, that's it."
Wachs paused, and turned to Smoke. "Also, there's one more request those DarkElf Sonstwelters make... They usually want us to call them Smoke."
"Actually, that's not a bad idea," said Smoke. "Why don't you also call me that during this experiment?"
"Call you what?" asked Colere.
"Smoke," said Smoke.
Colere turned to Esper, and she shrugged in response. The burly OrkElf then turned to Wachs. "Is this some Sonstwelter thing?"
"I don't know, but they really seem to get a kick out of being called Smoke," said Wachs.
"Fine, Smoke," said Colere. "So, what do you want us to do now?"
"Right, clear out those floating membranes, and then pound the seeds with these," said Smoke, handing them over-sized clay-pestles.
"You need to make sure that all of the seeds are completely crushed," said Smoke.
Colere and Wachs silently obeyed Smoke. They proceeded to smoother the seeds in the bottom of the clay tank. The water turned purple, sticky, and syrupy.
"How long do we need to do this?" asked Wachs.
"Until all the seeds are squashed, and ten more minutes after that," said Smoke. He got closer and threw minced medicinal plants into the purple mixture.
After thirty-minutes, their pompom was ready for tasting. Smoke used his Earth Manipulation to create a functional tap and added it to the end of the tank in advance. He placed one of his clay jars under the tap, and poured himself a jar full of pompom.
"Here, try this, Sharur," Smoke said to Colere, handing him the jar.
Colere stared into the purple potion and back to Smoke.
"Well, here it goes," said Colere, drinking it all in one gulp. "Mm. Ah! That was great, Fau— Smoke. It's really delicious."
"Doesn't it? I call it, rejuvpots," said Smoke.
"Why don't you try one, Jinggu?" he said to Wachs, handing him a newly filled jar. "Not only will it restore your Life but your mana as well!"
"Are you serious?" asked Wachs, he intentionally cut himself on his palm and then drank the rejuvpots. "Whoa! It really did restore my health."
"Who knew pome—" began Wachs, but Smoke quickly covered the OrkElf's mouth with his hand. "Jinggu, now now. I don't want you tell them what these things came from."
"Eh? Tell who? It's just us here," said Wachs, staring at Smoke, confused.
"Anyway, it's enough that we learned how to make this item from the famous OrkElf Alchemist, Esper!" said Smoke. "Too bad that she had to leave Wysteria and head for Sawtorn. I don't know what city she's in, but she promised to come back to Wysteria soon."
"Wysteria? Are you alright?" Wachs asked Smoke. "You know that we're really near Vo—."
Smoke shut Wachs up with a gag over the OrkElf's mouth.
"Now, Sharur, just make sure that you take extra care of those pots," Smoke said to Colere. "They cost about 5,000 zecs each. It sounds expensive, but that's already cheap considering they restore both HP and MP."
Colere looked confused, but obediently followed Smoke's lead.
"Of course, Smoke, I'll get right on that," said Colere. "I'm really going to miss that beautiful Alchemist. I wish she stayed with us a bit longer."
"Stop it, Sharur, you don't have a chance with her. Did you forget how powerful of a Warrior her husband was?" asked Smoke.
"Oh, right. He did indeed look powerful," said Colere.
Smoke forcibly blinked his eyes multiple times, to indicate where he planned to end his video.
"That was great, guys," Smoke said to Colere and Wachs. "Now, I want you to fill up this clay pots with the pompom juice."
Smoke then signaled Esper to join them. "I'll make about 20,000 pieces of these pots," he said, and then handed her 50,000 zecs.
"Since you can't wear an actual Alchemist's robes, use that money to go to the Tailors and order clothes that would look like it belonged to one," explained Smoke to her. "You sell them near the market district and near the arena."
Esper obediently nodded.
Due to PVP events being held in the arena, Smoke decided to place Esper there. Potions which would restore both HP and MP in one drink was extremely rare, expensive, and useful.
"Don't worry about the first couple of days," said Smoke. "The sales will be slim to none, but just stick with it and I promise you people will come to buy it."
"Alright, Fau— I mean Smoke," said Esper.
"Oh, it's alright, you don't have to call me Smoke anymore," said Smoke. "You can call me Faux, again."
"Sonstwelters are really weird," Wachs said to Esper and Colere. Both OrkElf leaders nodded without hesitation.
"But remember, don't sell more than 1,000 pieces in one place," said Smoke. "You can sell 1,000 pieces to a person. But after that, you need to tell them that you need to make some more."
"Why should they do that?" asked Wachs. "They'll have all 20,000 clay pots filled and ready."
"The reason for that is to entice the public's demand," explained Smoke. "So, what you do is, find a different location in the city. Preferably somewhere in the same district, but the opposite direction."
"And you're sure that will work?" asked Esper.
Smoke saw the excitement in her eyes. It was clear how much she wanted to make a great profit for their settlement, and Smoke knew that this was a great way to get it.
"Alright, you two, I'm counting on you to make great sales," said Smoke. "Oh, and make sure there isn't a pomegranate in sight when you sell those potions."
"You got it, Faux," said Colere.
"Leave it to us," added Esper. "Hm, Faux, how much is our split on this? Are we fifty-fifty?"
"Sixty-forty, but we'll talk about the specifics later," said Smoke.
After watching the unedited video, Nash then immediately began cutting out the unnecessary parts. Due to them being inside the earth-doughnut structure, the pomegranates trees were completely hidden in the video.
'Although, Colere and Wachs looked like vagrants, I think their clothes could pass off as undergarments,' thought Smoke.
It took him over thirty-minutes to finish his video edit, which left him less than thirty-minutes to get a quick power nap before logging back in.
Nash locked his computer screen, and collapsed on his bed. Without looking, his hands automatically found his alarm clock, which he set for thirty minutes.

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With about five weeks left until the tournament, Smoke was patiently waiting for the elderly HighElf to begin their training. During his stay in the seminary, Smoke was asked to remove his earth-mask. This, he readily complied, as the only other people there were Eleve and Flora.
Yet, despite the urgency, he did not mind. For what he was truly after was a clue on the Magietrois, and what could be a better source than one of their direct students?
Squatting on tatami floors reminded Smoke of his time in Saruras Village. He wondered how the Simiavulgs were doing. Especially, Saru, the albino Simiavulg who greatly helped him learn the ways of the Manatl.
Suddenly, his thoughts were disrupted as Eleve called him out.
"Go on, drink some more, Faux," Eleve said to Smoke.
Against his will, Smoke finished one more cup.
"By the way, where's Flora?" asked Smoke, noticing the flower girl's absence since he got back online.
"I sent her on an errand," said Eleve. "Seeing as she's the one who brought you here, then she should be the one to do all of the leg work."
"Leg work?" asked Smoke, confused.
Eleve took a sip from her cup, and sternly stared at him.
"Forget about Flora," said Eleve. "Are you here to train for Magi Gagnant Tournament or not?"
Smoke silently nodded.
"Then, I have a few questions for you," she said. "And for this to work, I only ask you to be honest. You don't have to tell me the whole truth, just as long as you answer the important points of my question."
Smoke felt Eleve's gaze intensify as she spoke.
"Can you do that or not?" asked Eleve. "Cause if you can't, then we might as well stop now."
"I can do that, I can be honest," said Smoke with all sincerity. He had no intention of lying, as he felt that she had the capability of detecting false statements.
Eleve raised her eyebrow. She took in a deep breath and gently placed her tea in front of her.
"First things first, I'd like to know what you want to learn here? Is it to improve your Earth Manipulation ability? Clearly, this is what you had expected. Or do you want to learn the will of the flame?"
Even during the times he was logged out of Zectas, Smoke was thinking about this topic.
"To be honest, I have another elemental ability," said Smoke. "I can also control Lightning. It's nowhere near the level of my Earth Manipulation, but I believe given time I could master that as well."
Without a word, Eleve swiftly picked up her teacup and threw it straight at Smoke's forehead.
"Ouch! What was that for?" asked Smoke, rubbing his forehead.
"Are you playing dumb? Or are you just stupid?" asked Eleve. "Don't you know that Earth and Lightning are opposite elements?"
"I do know that," said Smoke. "But there's a certain percentage where I could still get a decent amount of power from both of them," he reasoned out.
"Tell me this then, which has the higher chance of winning," began Eleve. "Someone who has completely mastered one element or the other who has two but doesn't go near the level of mastery?"
"Well, that depends," said Smoke. "The one who mastered an element could have a low life bar. He could be placed in a trap. Or one out of the two elements could be a counter element of the— Ouch!" he suddenly cried out, as another teacup came crashing into his head once more. "Stop that! You know you can just tell me I'm wrong."
"Now, where's the fun in that?" asked the batty old Highelf. "Did you count how many conditions you said in that one argument?"
"What does have to do with anything?" asked Smoke, still rubbing his head.
"Well, my dear, that just tells you how low your chances of winning are in a straightforward fight," said Eleve. "Let me tell you right now, if you want to become a decent Manipulator of the elements, then drop Lightning."
"But isn't one of the members of the Magietrois a master of Lightning?" asked Smoke.
"Yeah, one of them is, but I never met her," said Eleve.
"Yeah, about that, how did you meet Magietrois Florissant?" asked Smoke. "What was she like?" He probed with caution, concerned that asking several questions about her teacher would piss the touchy old lady.
Eleve fondly smiled.
"I was about nine or ten, when I first saw her. The Magietrois Florissant then was young, about thirty-five. It was the 919th Magi Gagnant Tournament, and before the finals started, she stepped onto the stage and called forth a phoenix. It was the most mystical creature I have ever seen," began Eleve. "Its flames were red as scarlet, but they did not feel hot, not even warm."
Eleve's eyes dazzled, recounting the memory of meeting her master for the first time gave her the most winsome smile.
"When she was done performing, she got off the ring and suddenly went straight to me, out of everyone in the crowd," said Eleve. "She asked me whether I was enjoying my monotonous life or if I was interested in being her disciple."
Eleve blushed.
"Me, being very young and naive, was completely enamoured by her beauty and power. She made me feel so special, and I regrettably said yes," she said smiling.
"You said you regretted it, but why do you look so happy?" asked Smoke, and gave her a grin.
Eleve guffed.
"Well, Florissant promised me a life of wonder, excitement, a life filled with magic," she said. "But when I got here, it was even more dull and boring than back home. Everyday, it was the same thing. Read books, memorize spells, soul meditation, and mantra chanting," explained Eleve, shuddering away the unpleasant memory.
"At first, there were over a thousand girls. They were all about my age," said Eleve. "But when I turned eleven, there were only a hundred of us left."
"Wait! Florissant didn't eat them or devour their souls did she?" asked Smoke, alarmed.
"Of course not! Florissant was kind to all of us," said Eleve, disapprovingly.
"You say that like it's a bad thing?" asked Smoke.
"She was so kind in fact, that it made me feel irrelevant," she explained. "She knew all of our habbits, traits, and even our dreams. When I turned twenty-one, there were only three of us left. The others were convinced that they had learned enough, and left to help the outside world with their gifted talents."
"So, why did you stay?" asked Smoke. "And how's Magietrois Florissant doing now?"
Smoke leaned in closer, hoping to learn more about the Flame Magietrois.
However, Eleve raised her eyebrows and sternly stared at him. "Anyway, I've said enough. I've digressed for far too long."
"So, will you drop your Lightning Manipulation or not?" she asked again.
"By drop do you mean stop using it?" asked Smoke, taken aback.
"No! I mean unlearn the ability altogether," said Eleve.
Stunned, Smoke could not reply and his mouth fell open.
"I'll give you thirty-minutes to think about it," said Eleve. "I'll be back by then. If you do decide to keep the Lightning Manipulation, I will have to ask you to leave the Florissant Seminary."
Eleve stood up and left him alone in the room.
"Wait a minute, are you serious? Is this some sort of test?" asked Smoke, but did not hear a reply from the batty old HighElf.
'Should I do this?' he asked himself. 'We were still talking about her meeting with the Magietrois and suddenly she changes the topic to me losing an ability.'
Smoke moved his chin closer to his chest and said. "Igniz, do you think this could be a trap? The last time I trusted someone who claimed to be a Magietrois, I lost my Transmutation ability."
The metal orb on Smoke's chest showed no changes.
"Do you think I pissed her off? You know, asking about Magietrois Florissant?" asked Smoke.
Igniz let out a bright purple light. Smoke could only guess that his symbiote just shrugged in response.
"Right, I should make this decision myself," said Smoke. "After all, I only have myself to blame for my own actions."
Smoke stood up and ran after Eleve. Despite walking slowly, she was already several meters away from him.
"I'll do it!" he shouted. "I'll drop the Lightning ability."
Eleve stopped, turned around and smiled at him. "Very good."
Suddenly, she instantly vanished and reappeared in front of him. Her hand touched his forehead and he was pinned against the wall.
A red progress bar appeared with 'Lightning Manipulation' written on it. Smoke instantly felt a searing pain on his skin as if Eleve's palm was burning him. His instincts told him to fight back, but he forcibly restrained himself.
A notification window popped up as soon as the progress bar completed.