by John Nest
“No, no, I’m heading out now!” he said, raising his hands in surrender. “Thank you so much for the Automaton Knight ability and for this quest.”
“Don’t mention it, Smoke,” said Eleve. “Still, feels strange calling you something else other than Faux, you know?”
“Is it?” asked an apologetic Smoke. “Sorry about lying to you,” he said, lowering his head before her.
“Quit repeating yourself,” said Eleve.
“Well, I better get going,” said Smoke. “It’s a long flight to Nadaya Village.”
“Flight?” said Eleve. “I’m going to send you there myself,” she said.
“Really?” asked Smoke, shocked. “That’s awesome!”
“But before you go, let me remind you to finish what you started against the Orks,” said Eleve. “I am confident that something good will come out of it. Maybe even something related to finding a Thau—” she was forcibly stopped by a circular flame tightening around her neck.
“Eleve? Eleve! What’s going on?” asked a worried Smoke.
The flaming noose disappeared and Eleve gasped for air. “Sorry about that, I was trying out a new ability.”
Smoke patted the elder HighElf’s back. “Are you sure you’re okay? Can I get you a glass of water or something?”
“No, no, I’m fine. Honest!” she said. “Anyway, I’m sending you to Nadaya, now.”
“Wait, why the rush? Are—” Smoke was interrupted, as he was already being teleported by Eleve towards Nadaya Village.
After Smoke was sent away, a fiery image of a young girl materialized before Eleve.
“Mistress, I’m really sorry,” blurted out Eleve, as she knelt before the real Magietrois Florissant. “I wasn’t going to tell him about—”
“Stop patronizing me!” screamed Florissant. Her youthful expression turned dark and the lines on her face showed her true age for a moment. “Do you want me to strip him of his Journeyman Emblem?”
“No, no. Of course not!” pleaded Eleve. “It’s just that Smoke finally revealed himself to us. I just thought that you would have wanted to—”
Once again the elderly HighElf was silenced by a flaming noose around her neck.
“Do not presume to know what I am thinking,” said Florissant, she shook her head in great disappointment and disapproval. “Because of what you did, you’ve risked his chance at meeting my elder sister.”
* * * * * *
Goosebumps covered Smoke’s body, as the tingling sensation of being teleported over a long distance lingered within him.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself on the grassy plains outside the dangerous area of a pomegranate forest.
After looking around, he spotted a small village some distance away from him.
‘That must be Nadaya,’ surmised Smoke. He ducked down and hid behind a bush.
However, as he did so, his Cunning of the Dire Fox alerted him of eight monsters coming fast behind him.
Without looking back, Smoke used his melded abilities of Earth and Fire Manipulation. Four magma-spikes sprang out from the forest floor and pierced a charging lemurcat. The lemurcat managed to dodge one of the magma-spikes attacks, but two of the molten points penetrated the armpits of the tiger-like beast. Meanwhile, the last attack perforated its jugular.
The lunging beast cried out in pain, as it was caught in Smoke’s magma-spikes.
After witnessing the sudden counter-attack, the charging lemurcats ran back. They bolted deeper into the forest, with their tails between their legs.
With the other threats gone, Smoke turned around to face his captive. The lemurcat still had 10% left on its life bar. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you suffer,” he said to the beast.
He took out Blaise’s gift, the salamander’s tongue and used its Incinerator ability. The flamberge shattered into a hundred fiery shafts and plunged in and out of the captured lemurcat. It took him less than three seconds to finish off the monster.
“Nice!” yelled Smoke, pleased at the imposing damage of his newly acquired flamberge.
After collecting the pelt, Smoke turned back to face the quaint village.
The late morning sun gave Nadaya Village a certain glow of orange, further adding to its rustic appearance.
Its shabby rock walls were less than two meters high, and its wooden gate looked unreliable.
‘They wouldn’t stand a chance,’ he thought, imagining the worst scenario of an Ork invasion.
“Well, why don’t you scout the place, Daga?” said Smoke to his little gray mouse, He expected to see it on his shoulder but found no mouse in sight. Only then did he realize that his Shade was left in the Florissant Seminary.
“Oh, man!” cried out Smoke, hitting his forehead with his right palm.
He then canceled out his synergized state and released Igniz out in the open air. His symbiote was briskly whizzing through the skies.
“Could you scout the village for me?” he said to the dark ember sprite.
At once Igniz nodded and headed away. But as Smoke watched his symbiote fly further away, he realized that Igniz’s flames had grown far too strong to go unnoticed.
‘Looks like I can’t use Igniz to spy on places unless it’s really bright out,’ he surmised.
“Igniz, come back!” yelled Smoke.
Fortunately, Igniz had not flown that far and was able to return posthaste.
“Well, Bud, looks like I have to re-summon Daga,” lamented Smoke, knowing that his Shade will return to level 1.
Although his Shade had only reached up to level 3, Smoke still felt annoyed that he had to start over.
Looking at the open space next to him, Smoke activated his ability and called out. “Beggar Shade!”
At once, a small circular shadow appeared before him. His gray mouse meekly stepped out of it and lowered its tiny head before Smoke.
“Nice seeing you again, Daga,” greeted Smoke. “Well, why don’t we start earning your experience points again,” he said and pointed his minuscule Shade towards the village.
While waiting for Daga to return, Smoke thought to compare his recently acquired equipment with the ones he was currently using.
Claws of Chiropterra (Gloves)
A rare glove that closely resembles the claws of the monstrous winged Foxbat Chiropterra.
Equipment Ability:
* Foxbat Grip (Passive)
+ You can grip solid surfaces with ease,
climbing mountains becomes a breeze.
* Earth affinity + 15%
He then opened the window for the gloves he acquired from the Ork Colonel Vergewaltiger.
Gauntlets of Orcinol (Gloves)
A unique glove fashioned for the warriors of the Lioumerean God, Xipetotec. It is said that the god disliked ranged fighting and preferred his hands to be covered by the blood of his opponents.
+ 20 Strength
+ 30 Agility
Equipment Ability:
* Panthera Claws (Active)
+ 50 Attack Speed
+ 1,000 Damage
Notes:
– Requires: 50 MP/second
– To activate: User must have no other equipped weapons beside the Gauntlets of Orcinol.
‘That Ork bastard must have raided this from a Lioumerean Village,’ surmised Smoke, after examining Orcinol’s gloves. He stared at both gloves in each hand. “Well, I don’t really need the bonus from the Earth Affinity anymore,” he said out loud and equipped the Gauntlets of Orcinol.
Next, Smoke inspected his ability called ‘Sword Mastery’ which was still at Beginner Level 5. Although he got a hold of this ability fairly recently, he still did not increase this ability’s level as he had no proper weapon to use it with.
‘But not anymore,’ he thought, equipping the flamberge given to him by Blaise.
Salamander’s Tongue (Flamberge)
Smelted from the special metal of firanium, molded in the casts of god hand Dwarvius by his student Dwarven.
Equipment Ability:
* Blazing Flames (Active)
> Covers the flamberge in flames
+ 2 Meters Weapon Range
+ 300 Magical Fire Damage
Notes:
– Requires: 100 MP/second
* Incinerator (Active)
> Scatters the flaming flamberge into several shards and attacks anything
Notes:
– Requires: 1,000 MP/second
– Range: 200 Meters
– Cool Down: 2 Minutes
‘It’s amazing that Blaise could hold the Incinerator ability for that long,’ he thought, considering the high mana cost.
Since the Automaton Knight Ability depended on the caster’s knowledge of Knight abilities and the ability’s level itself, Smoke decided to increase his Sword Mastery with the aid of the salamander’s tongue.
With the massive flamberge in hand, Smoke removed his paradox mask and began donning a most haphazard set. Taking out a black helm with two bent horns pointing upward, he equipped the Gora helm. He then removed the leather pants and replaced it with the black Gora leggings. He contemplated about removing the sable wizard surcoat but decided not to as he liked its increased experience bonus. The same thing happened with his Gora boots. He kept on the serval shoes, despite its orange color and leather finish.
After finishing his wardrobe change, Smoke turned to Igniz and asked. “Well? How do I look? Do I look like Ilad, now?”
The dark ember sprite whizzed around him and let out a low crackling sound with his flames.
“What? Are you laughing at me?” asked Smoke, pretending to be hurt. “Come on, let’s synergize and cover my clothes with flames.”
As soon as he and Igniz melded into one, Smoke let out a low amethyst flame all around his body.
“There! That’s better,” said Smoke, pleased at his Flame Knight persona.
With his disguise finished, Smoke spotted something small scampering across the green plains towards him.
“Daga! You’re back,” Smoke greeted his tiny Shade. “Now, let’s see what you found out,” he said, lowering his palm on the ground for the mouse to nibble on a piece of ancient bison jerky.
They gray mouse bowed down before its master and a notification window popped up.
Daga’s Reconnaissance Report:
>> Nadaya Village <<
Population: 100~150
Spotted Villagers:
120 Adults
– 50 Farmers
– 30 Guards
– 2 Bakers
– 1 Tailor
33 Children
– 15 Boys
– 18 Girls
Village Elder: A man named Buktot
“So, I’ll have to look for this Buktot person, huh?” said Smoke to Daga.
The little gray mouse gave him a quick nod and resumed nibbling on its bison jerky.
Smoke canceled his purple flames, reverting to his mismatched attire. He turned to the gray mouse and motioned for it to move to its hiding place. An obedient Daga ran up to his shoulders and hid inside the flaps of his hooded cloak.
“Right, let’s see what we can do here,” said Smoke, as he walked towards Nadaya Village.
It took him less than ten minutes to reach the village entrance. But before he could enter, he heard people screaming and arguing. He proceeded with caution and peeked in from the wooden gate of the village. There, he saw a mob of people surrounding a hunchback man.
As he wanted to know more of the situation, Smoke hid behind one of the log houses. He was not fully concealed as he wanted to see what was going on as well.
“I told all of you! We should have removed him from being our village chief,” yelled a black-haired woman in her late twenties. She held a swaddled baby tightly in her arms.
In the crowd of red-heads, Smoke easily spotted the two black-haired woman next to each other.
“Buktot, we told you we needed better walls!” added the woman carrying a baby. “How many more children do you want the Orks to take, before you take action?”
“Kick him out! Kick him out!” started the second black-haired woman. “Kick him out! Kick him out!”
The angry mob was roused by the second woman’s chant and joined in.
The hunchback raised both his hands, as he tried to pacify the villagers. “Everyone, please calm down. When have you ever heard of Orks attacking a village without wrecking it?” he asked.
Whispers and murmurs resonated within the villagers, as what Buktot was saying made sense.
“I’ve consulted with some of you earlier,” quickly added Buktot, grabbing the division between the masses. “And many agree with me, that this isn’t the work of Orks.”
“Then, who is taking our children?” asked the same woman.
“Yeah! Who is taking them?” yelled somebody else from the mob.
“Well, old man Alam said that these abductions are done by Aswangs,” said the hunchback. “And, Duda, you’ve heard of Aswangs before, right?” he said to the woman carrying a baby.
“Aswangs? You don’t honestly expect us to believe in some old horror story from Thanotl?” replied Duda.
“Don’t try to deceive us!” screamed the other black-haired woman next to Duda. “We know that you’ve been keeping all the zecs for yourself. We know that you’re saving up money to go to Thanotl. You plan to have that lump of yours removed by their Healers!”
“What? I would never—” argued the hunchback but was silenced by the jeers of the crowd. “Hinala, please. You and your sister know me.”
“Buktot, if you weren’t hiding the money, then we should have better walls by now,” added Hinala. “We should have more security. Each night a child goes missing!”
“Yeah!”
“Exactly!”
“Indeed!”
With a mob mentality, the rioters agreed in unison.
“People, you should know that most of our funds are going to our agricultural research,” explained Buktot. “We’ve been developing it to the point where—”
“Lies!” interjected Hinala. “Perhaps you’re the one who is abducting the children? Maybe, you’re selling them as slaves and saving up the zecs?”
“Hinala, please don’t yell out accusations like that!” declared Buktot. “You and your sister are just making matters worse,” he added with a forced smile. “Anyway, I’ve already sent word to Magietrois Florissant and asked for her help.”
“Now, isn’t that convenient?” said Duda. “You’ve asked for assistance from the Magietrois Florissant when I’ve already sent our youngest sister Alay to go look for help in Thanotl.”
“Even though we are nearer to Thanotl, we are technically under the jurisdiction of the Vitzytl Kingdom,” rebutted Buktot. “And we’re not even sure if she will get help. But in the meantime, why don’t we try Alam’s suggestion? Let’s barricade one family at a time, and then we’ll know who the Aswang is—”
“Oh, shut up, Buktot! Who in their right mind would agree to that?” yelled Hinala. “Didn’t you hear my sister? Didn’t you hear any of us?”
“That’s enough,” Duda said to Hinala. “We’ll just gather the needed votes to kick him off as our village chief! Come on, everyone!” she added leading the mob to disband.
As the crowd parted, Smoke was spotted by Hinala. He instantly covered himself in low purple flames. He did this not to intimidate anyone, but to hide his mismatched armor.
“Greetings, I was sent here by Magietrois Florissant to help you,” said Smoke in a forced accent, as he took on one of his alternate personas, Ilad.
“Don’t tell me that hunchback was telling the truth,” said Hinala. She shook her head and paid him no mind, rejoining her elder sister and the angry mob.
Ignored, Smoke decided to walk over to Buktot. The startled hunchback fell on his side, as Smoke came out of nowhere.
He immediately canceled his flames, as a guilty Smoke ran to help Buktot up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you there. I’m
the one Magietrois Florissant sent to help you.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” said Buktot as he was being helped up. “But are you sure?”
“Yes, yes I am,” replied a proud Smoke.
“But aren’t you a Flame Knight?” asked Buktot.
“Huh? Is there a problem?” asked Smoke.
“Not really,” said Buktot. “It’s just that I received a letter saying that she’ll probably send one of her Florissant Journeymen. I thought you’d be an Elementalist or at least some kind of Magician?”
“Oh, right! Of course,” blurted out Smoke, thinking on his feet he said. “Actually, I just got a Job Change. From a Flame Knight into a Magic Knight.”
“Magic Knight? Really?” asked a surprised Buktot. “How is that different from an Elemental Knight?”
He hurriedly took out his brown-colored manatl staff and equipped it on his left hand, and took out the massive salamander’s tongue with his right.
With his two weapons equipped, Smoke turned to Buktot and said. “For one, I have mastery over more than one element.”
Raising his manatl staff, Smoke created an earth-pillar next to the hunchback with his Earth Manipulation. Next, he waved his flamberge with exaggerated movements and activated its Blazing Flames ability, engulfing the sword in fire.
“Whoa!” replied Buktot, cowering before the flames. The hunchback moved several meters backward. “That’s enough! I’m impressed!”
“Thank you,” replied Smoke. He gave him a small bow and canceled the flames and earth-pillars simultaneously.
With the flames died out, Buktot moved closer back to him.
“I’m called Buktot,” said the hunchback. “As of the moment, I’m the acting village chief. The previous one suddenly just moved out…”
“Nice to meet you, my name is Ilad,” said Smoke and shook his hand. “It’s a pleasure. Now, what can I do to help?”
“Um… I don’t know if you heard the villagers earlier,” began Buktot. “But there have been multiple cases of kidnappings in the last few days.”
Smoke nodded as he studied the hunchback explain the situation. “And how many children have gone missing so far?”
