by John Nest
After hearing Smoke’s altruistic speech. Many of the other Sonstwelters followed his lead and began to set aside items to be given to their fallen comrades.
“Thanks, Faux,” said Chrysopelea to Smoke. “I’m sure many of them will appreciate this.”
“Hey, I’m the one who asked for help,” replied Smoke. “It’s the least I could do. Besides, we need them to get stronger for the coming war.”
“So, are you coming back to Vitzytl with us after this?” Chrysopelea asked Smoke.
“No, I still have some unfinished business here,” replied Smoke. “But I’ll meet you there. I think I’ll be faster anyway since I’m flying and you guys are taking your war-carriages, right?”
“Probably,” replied Chrysopelea and resumed gathering the dropped items.
Smoke stood still, looking around the busy Sonstwelters collecting loot. Despite losing many team members, he felt less guilty about their deaths. Unlike the time when he lost his Zectian members. This felt different, for he knew that they would return after twenty-four hours in the real world— four days in the realm of Zectas.
* * * * * *
After watching Chrysopelea and the rest of the Sonstwelters leave the Ork Outpost, Smoke elevated the stowed wyvern eggs from the ground and picked them up. He grinned as he placed them into his inventory window and glided over to the hidden MaduHai Village inside the swamp.
“That sure was mighty gracious of you,” squeaked Daga from inside his chest pocket. “Not taking a single loot from that wyvern.”
“Well, those men deserved it,” said Smoke, truthfully. “I couldn’t have killed those monsters by myself.”
“True,” replied Daga. “But at least you used me during battle. Was kind of afraid I wasn’t going to see any action, and we trained so hard for it too,” she added.
“Anyway, you better jump off the same tree where you hid last time,” said Smoke. “We don’t want the swamp jaguars to find you, right?”
“Definitely!” exclaimed Daga. “That’s one order I’m going to obediently follow.”
Smoke landed on the same spot where he hid his shoddy-looking raft. After putting Daga on one of the white oak’s branches, he began pushing the raft through the murky swamp towards the MaduHai village shoreline.
“Ah! Navalikar Magic Swordsman et Vraktis!” greeted one of the MaduHai Ork Guards.
“Tamir usair,” said the Guard. “Givatavak fari siri Meneur.”
“Okay, Akir magvait dirir,” replied Smoke in his crude Orkish, indicating that he would wait for Meneur in the shoreline outside the village.
Smoke sat on the moist ground, which made him transfer on his crudely made raft instead.
A few minutes later, the blind Ork High Priestess stepped out of the village.
“You’re back, Sir Ilad, Magic Swordsman in training,” said Meneur. “Do you have all of your limbs intact?”
“Would you have preferred it if I lost a leg or two?” asked Smoke.
“Maybe,” replied Meneur, slightly pausing. “At least that would mean that you tried to go fight the wyverns in the Outpost.”
She scuffed and said. “Now, I bet you’re going to tell me some amazing tale of how you barely escaped with your life, no?”
Smoke let out a genuine laugh. “I think I would have really done that if I didn’t manage to finish the task,” he said and pulled out one of the wyvern eggs from his inventory window. It was big at half a meter in size. “Here, it’s my gift to you,” he said and offered the egg to the blind Ork.
One of the Priestesses behind Meneur walked up and helped her receive the egg.
“Oh! This really is a wyvern egg,” said Meneur, excited. “You really did clear the Outpost, huh?”
“Hatagir siyar sair sa emvlemir,” said Meneur to one of the Priestesses.
Smoke received a small emblem with an embossed Orkish head on its center.
Then, a notification window popped up.
Completed Quest: Cleaning up the MaduHai Mess
After dispatching the wyvern nest you are allowed entry into the MaduHai village, but you will only be able to access its public areas.
Rewards:
* Intimacy with the MaduHai Orks has increased by 20
* Gained MaduHai’s Emblem of Entry
* Gained 5,000,000 experience points
“You are the first non-Ork to receive that emblem,” said Meneur. “But that only grants you access to the public places in our village.”
“That’s fine by me,” replied Smoke.
Meneur then handed the wyvern egg to the other Ork Priestess and told her to be careful without it in Orkish.
“What do you plan to do with it?” asked Smoke.
“Maybe keep it as a trophy? Not sure yet,” said Meneur. “Come, let’s head into the place you’ve longed to see.”
“Thank you, please lead the way,” said Smoke.
“Asking a blind woman to lead,” chuckled Meneur. “DarkElves are not that bright, huh?” she said but led the way nonetheless.
“So, what happened to the wyverns that birthed this egg?” asked Meneur.
“I killed it,” bluntly replied Smoke.
“I would have wanted a more detailed story,” said Meneur. “But I guess we could save that for another time.”
As soon as they entered the rustic village of the Orks, many of its residents line up to gaze at Smoke, the first nonOrk to enter their home.
His first impression of them was a far cry from the one he had in mind. Instead of them building weapons or training for war; they were tilling the reclaimed swampland, mending the fishnets and even drying out the caught fish under the sun. Even the Orklings playing on the muddy ground were smiling to their heart’s content.
“Not quite what you expected?” asked Meneur out of the blue.
“Huh? What do you mean?” innocently asked Smoke.
“Fine! Be that way,” said Meneur. “Anyway, as you can see, there really isn’t anything much here in our village.”
“What are you talking about? There’s a lot going on here. I even saw someone making an Ork sculpture out of a willow trunk.”
“Oh, don’t mind him,” said Meneur. “He’ll try to sell you one of his sculptures and even claims that they’re worth a lot, but they aren’t worth squat.”
Then, they passed by the largest structure of the village. He marveled at the intricate craftsmanship carved into the wooden beams protruding out of the hut. Inside, he saw tons of bookshelves stacked against the entire wall of the two-story hut. He also caught a few Ork Priestesses practicing Water Manipulation.
‘That must be what they used to drain out the water from the swamp,’ surmised Smoke.
“Ilad? Did something catch your attention?” asked Meneur.
At once, Smoke could tell that she was not asking a simple question.
“Honestly, just got excited when I saw your stacks of books,” replied Smoke. “I’m sort of a Bibliophile,” he added shyly.
“Really?” asked Meneur, doubtful. “What kind of books have you read?”
“Mostly ability books, but I’ve also read the Ancient History of Zectas, Military Strategies of the Meridianus, The Enigmatic Village of Nanahuatl, and that’s just to name a few.”
“You know about Nanahuatl?” said Meneur, surprised. “That’s one of the rarest books in our village collection.”
This time, it was Smoke’s turn to be astonished. “What? You have a copy of that book here?”
“Certainly!” proudly said the blind Ork Priestess, nodding her head with enthusiasm. “Unfortunately, it is written in Lacerta and I’m the only left here who knows how to read the common tongue,” she let out a regretful sigh. “Didn’t even get to finish reading all of them.”
“But you’re blind now,” bluntly said Smoke. “Who is going to read those books now?”
“What? I’m blind?” asked Meneur, acting all shocked and panicky. “Oh, right… right. I’ve been blind for almost twenty yea
rs,” she added and chuckled.
Smoke nervously laughed. “Yeah, sorry about that. Completely forgot about it.”
“Say, do you want to read some of the books written in Lacerta?” asked Meneur.
“Really? That would be awesome!” replied Smoke, ecstatic.
“But I have one condition,” said Meneur. “You can’t ask for any books written in Orkish.”
“Done!” said Smoke without hesitation.
“Indanir, dalair kirig livror nar magir Lacerta,” said Meneur to one of the Ork Priestesses.
Smoke only caught a few words, but he guessed that he was about to have all of the books in their library written in Lacerta.
“I’ll have one of the men bring you a desk,” said Meneur. “Just hope that it won’t rain anytime soon.”
“Oh? Am I reading the books right here?” asked Smoke. “Can I make a desk and maybe even a shed? I’ll destroy it as soon as I’m done reading the books.”
“Hm. Well, if you can build it in less than two minutes, then I don’t see why not,” said Meneur, chuckling loudly at her own joke.
“Ah, I don’t see…” politely said Smoke, laughing dryly. “That was funny,” he added but could not completely drown out the hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“Fine! It wasn’t that funny,” blurted out Meneur. “But it would have been if I said it in Orkish,” she mumbled on about how things are not as funny in a different tongue. “Anyway, you’ve got two minutes.”
Without waiting for the Ork High Priestess to say another word, Smoke created an earth-bench, earth-table, and an open shed with only four earth-pillars to support the roof.
“Wha? What happened?” asked Meneur.
“Oh, I made a shed out of the earth,” passively replied Smoke.
“You have the Earth Manipulation ability?” asked Meneur.
Smoke grinned and nodded his head.
“You need to speak up,” said Meneur. “I can’t see, remember?”
“Yes, I have it,” quickly stammered Smoke.
“Then, would you be interested in improving our village walls?” asked Meneur.
As soon as she finished asking, a notification window popped up.
+ Quest: MaduHai Contract Worker
Village Improvement Quest
Level: D
Improve the current wooden wall structure around the MaduHai Village with your Earth Manipulation.
Accept the Quest? [YES/NO]
“Hm, let me think about it,” said Smoke. “I really want to read the books first.”
He hesitated to take on the quest, discourage by the Level D and the potential rewards that would go with it.
Shortly after, stacks of books were delivered to him. His eyes scanned for a leather tome but sadly found none in the first batch of books that was delivered to him.
“Looks like you’re really excited to start reading,” said Meneur. “I’ll leave you to it then.”
“Thanks!” replied Smoke.
With that, Meneur and the other Ork Priestesses proceeded into the largest hut of the village.
“I maybe blind but I could already hear you salivating all the way from over here,” shouted Meneur before the doors were closed after her.
Smoke paid her no mind. He began to voraciously consume the books. There was one on the philosophies of the Orks on the views of the other races. There was also a book entitled: ‘Why Other Races hate Orks’. However, the book that caught his attention was the one entitled: ‘How to Build your own Dragon Hatchery.’
How to Build your own Dragon Hatchery:
– Can hatch dragon eggs and other Dragonic eggs such as wyverns, wyrms, drakes, and other draconic creatures.
[STEP ONE]
[STEP TWO]
…
As soon as he read the book, Smoke could not help himself but shout. “Meneur! I know how to hatch the wyvern egg!”
Chapter Five:
War Preparations
A hysterical Smoke was screaming for Meneur to step out of the Ork library. “Come on! You need to see this!” he screamed, waving the book over his head.
“Check yourself, Boy!” screamed Meneur, hobbling out of the two-story hut. “What do you want a blind woman to see now?” she added, chuckling.
Smoke ignored Meneur’s antics. Instead, he continued reading the acquired knowledge window out loud. “Dragons and other draconic creatures are normally impossible to train. However, through the process of imprinting: a person comes to be recognized by the draconic creature as a parent or a person of habitual trust.” A presumptuous smirk instantly overcame his face. He could already picture himself using the wyvern against the Orks or any other opposing armies.
“Really? A wyvern, huh? I’ve always wanted one… You know, as a guardian for our village,” stammered Meneur, interrupting Smoke’s own delusions of riding on a wyvern above the clouds.
“Exactly!” exclaimed Smoke, enthralled. “So, what do you say? You want to build a Dragon Hatchery here?”
“Sure! Tell me what the book says and I’ll tell our craftsmen to do it,” replied Meneur with the same enthusiasm.
Smoke bobbed his head up and down. “First we need to gather the leaves and branches from a Dracaena Marginata plant. Next, we need to build a nest at least six meters in diameter from that plant, and then we build a kiln with an area of twelve meters and a height of eighteen meters. Finally, we incubate the dragon egg inside the kiln at 1024° for the next twelve months—”
“Wow! That’s a long time,” said Meneur.
“Wait, there’s more,” added Smoke, disheartened. “The flames must be in constant rotation at the speed ranging from at least three kilometers or up to twenty kilometers per hour.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” asked Meneur, shrugging.
“Not sure,” replied Smoke scratching his head. “Let me read some more. Maybe, there’s a section on how to do that?”
Scrolling the acquired knowledge window with his index finger, Smoke stopped when he saw an interesting section.
“That doesn’t really solve anything,” said Smoke, blankly staring at the window.
“What does?” asked Meneur, confused.
Smoke let out a frustrated sigh. “Just found out that the wyvern needs a shorter amount of time, but it’s still six months!” he said, enumerating the items on incubation section.
Draconic Incubation Periods
Legendary Dragons |———-> 36 Months
Dragons: |——–——–——–-> 12 Months
Wyrms: |——————–——–> 09 Months
Wyverns: |————–————> 06 Months
Drakes: |—————–———–> 03 Months
Meneur clicked her tongue and shook her head. “What good is that? That doesn’t tell us how to make the flames rotate on their own at all.”
Smoke scratched his head, trying to claw out an idea. “Hey! What about a water wheel?” he blurted out. “I know how to build one from scratch. We can attach the wheel to a circular platform and put the flames on top of it,” he said in one breath, excited. “We can even use the white oak trees from the swamp—”
Smoke stopped himself mid-sentence. “Oh, that’s right. There’s no flowing water here,” he said, realizing the stagnant waters surrounding the hidden Ork village.
“Technically, there is a slight motion in the waters,” said Meneur. “And using Water Manipulation we can increase the speed and completely remove the water from our desired land to reclaim.”
Then, it hit him. “Meneur, are you planning on doing any expansion on your village anytime soon?”
“No, not for another two years,” answered Meneur. “But what does that have to do with hatching my wyvern? I mean our future village protector,” she quickly added.
“And how many of you here can use Water Manipulation?” further asked Smoke.
The old Ork High Priestess’ nose wrinkled and said. “Well, all of the Priestesses can do it,” repl
ied Meneur. “And there’s six of them. Including me, that’s seven. But there’s no way we can move the water around for the wheel for the entire six months.”
“Of course not,” said Smoke, trying his best not to laugh.
“Then, why do I feel like you’re giving me a smug look right now?” asked Meneur.
“Because I’m going to build you a dam!” exclaimed Smoke.
“Huh? But there’s no flowing water!” replied Meneur.
“That’s where your Water Manipulation ability comes in,” explained Smoke. “The canal will be built around your reclaimed island. It will also be divided into two parts. The southern section will be lower than the northern section, but the southern section will have a gradual incline as it reaches back to the northern part.”
“So, we use our Water Manipulation to force the water back up into this upper section of yours,” said Meneur.
“Exactly! You got it,” said a smiling Smoke, happy that the blind Ork High Priestess understood his plan. “And I’ll build a floodgate that will control the flow of the water from the upper region, assuring us of the minimum speed for the rotating flames.”
“Yeah, about that,” interjected Meneur. “I don’t know how we could sustain the flames.”
“Leave that to me,” assured Smoke. “For now, let’s just start building the dam and some of your Guards can fetch me the lumber needed for the water wheel.”
“You honestly think this will work?” asked Meneur, staring at him with her glassy white eyes.
“It’s not a sure thing, but we have to at least give it a try,” reasoned Smoke.
“Fair enough,” replied Meneur and called for the village Guards.
After Meneur’s go-signal, Smoke immediately began working on the dam.
* * * * * *
Two days passed and Smoke had already dug the inclined canal around the entire village. He even finished the flood gate that would control the flow of the water from the upper region.
