The Achievement Junkie

The man entered casually and another figure followed in from behind. That second man was shorter and leaner. He had a katana at his side and removed his hood as he looked toward the bar.

"Brunar, master, what happened?"

"Troni, come! Join us! We're celebrating!" Brunar cheered and lifted his mug happily.

"Celebrating?" Troni didn't know how to react.

"We just got a stong new member," explained Maynard. "With another swordsman joining, ya will have another man to learn from. Come and meet your new senior!'

Troni looked at the man in the center of the cheers. He was old but his muscular figure was no longer hidden under his sailor coat and his groomed, grey beard gave him an aura of an experienced killer. At his hip was a brilliant cutlass. It was clearly high-leveled and well crafted, saying a lot about the man who wielded it.

"Troni greets the new senior," said Troni as he walked over and bowed.

"Lift your head boy. Swordsmen only bow to their master and the heavens, no need to do so with an old man like me," joked Tomas. "I'm happy to feel like a part of something again, so of course I'll help a junior with his sword, especially if your one of Maynard's boys."

While they were welcoming Troni into their drinking party, Zariff went upstairs with the other man. They quickly arrived at the conference room and hung the man's wet coat before they took a seat.

"So, Tridon, what brings you here so late?" asked Zariff.

"You already know me Zariff. I want one of those corpses; I'll even pay for it!" Tridon smiled widely. The moment he caught word that mysterious beasts destroyed the docks he was anxious to check the corpses personally. When he heard the rumor that they may be cetus corpses, Tridon wasn't able to keep himself from waiting any longer.

"A guess we can part with a corpse or two," reasoned Zariff. "However, we want you to perform as an autopsy on one, and it has to happen here in the association building. Got it?"

Tridon rose to his feet as fast as lightning and showed a toothy grin. "Can I start now? I already brought everything I need."

Zariff laughed, "Sure, but first there's someone you'll want to talk to."

"Oh? Who's that?"

"The brat with the fox, who else? He's the one who instantly identified the cetuses and his information was crucial to avoiding casualties. I'm sure talking with him will help your autopsy's chance of success," stated Zariff.

"Really?! Where is he? I must speak with him!" Tridon was having a field day! Not only was he able to meet a Hell-flame Fox, but now he could inspect a legendary cetus' corpse. Hearing that Jack was possibly more knowledgable about mythic creatures that himself was a cherry on top of the proverbial cake.

"Calm down, man. He's in the infirmary thanks to a cetus bite, but knowing him he might still be awake."

"Lead the way!"

The two men left the room and made their way downstairs. Zariff glanced back at the drinking party with envy. Tridon didn't even look at the others, he was too anxious to speak with Jack as soon as possible and didn't care about the rest of the world.

Soon they reached the infirmary and Zariff knocked lightly on the door. He waited a second until he heard a voice from inside. "Come in."

Without any more reservations, the chief opened the door and introduced the two men, "I thought you'd be up. Tridon's hear to talk about the cetuses. I'm sure you can understand why."

"It's a pleasure to meet you again Jack, and for such a great occasion!" Tridon grabbed a chair and sat himself down by the bed. "So, you know cetuses?"

"Let the brat breath, Tridon." Zariff followed Tridon's example as he patiently sat next to the large man. "Jack, can we talk? You can trust him. He's a freak about anything involving beasts, but he's a good man. Why else would I call him a friend?"

Jack sighed, understanding Zariff's intentions. "You know I don't like too much attention for things like that."

"I'd disagree!" Tridon spoke up. "You may say that and you may understand that revealing more secrets will only bring you doom, but you're acting like a hypocrite. Your actions are against your logic, isn't it? What is it you really want?"

Not sure what to say, Jack opened his mouth but said nothing. He wasn't able to deny Tridon's words. During his all the time he had spent alone in the infirmary, he had plenty of time to refect on his past actions and decisions. And with Daruun's mention of Jack's multiple personas, the young hero was unsure of what to think of himself.

At times he felt like he was on autopilot as Jack_J, his in-game persona that did whatever he felt like and saught attention in every way possible. On rare occasions, he defaulted to his cowardly, old self, Jackson the janitor. He couldn't help but wonder who he really was or who he wanted to be.

"So, Jack, what will it be? Do you trust me?" added Tridon. He also understood the meaning behind Zariff's words. If he understood correctly, Jack had a lot more secrets and knowledge than he would've guessed.

Jack sighed. He stared at Zariff and glanced at Tridon. He coughed to clear his throat and said, "I'll talk. What do you want to know?"

Tridon chuckled, "What do you know about the cetuses? How did you recognize them? No one's reported a cetus sighting for over one hundred years."

"How could I not recognize such a famous beast? They're legendary cetuses that live hidden lives in the open ocean and only show themselves when they're certain they can kill their prey. They travel in pods, but those pods are usually only half a dozen strong. Seeing so many together too strange to be a coincidence," explained Jack.

When Jack finished his explanation Tridon was astounded and grinning from ear-to-ear. It was obvious to him that this wasn't Jack's first time facing cetuses, proving Jack's mysteriousness. "So, you're saying that there might be more to come?"

"Yeah, that's what I think," Jack agreed. "I think this was organized and planned as a scouting party. It's only the first wave, I'm sure of that."

Jack met Zariff's gaze and nodded before continuing, "Also, you should understand something. If cetuses travel in anything bigger than a pod, that means they've formed a pride. Do you understand what that means, Tridon?"

The master hunter-breeder began breathing heavily. "You mean… There's a pride lord?"

"That's my guess, yes."

"Then what are we standing around for!" Tridon shot to his feet. His eyes no longer showed excitement, only fear.

"What are you two talking about? And what's a pride lord?" asked Zariff. He was lost the moment Jack mentioned them forming anything bigger than a pod. The chief had never heard of the term "pride" before.

"Wait, you wouldn't happen to know how strong a pride lord is, do you?" asked Tridon, ignoring Zariff. He recalled hearing that the cetuses hid their levels but someone managed to guess their correct strength to help sway the battle.

"At least lv. 40…"

Jack's answer brought silence to the room. Tridon and Zariff were both trembling. They had never faced such a strong foe before. Beasts that strong were known to only appear in certain areas of the continent nowadays.

"At least…" Tridon mumbled as he tried to imagine the possible threat.

Even Bowzer, who stayed quiet under the covers, was shaking. He had the advantage against the cetuses they faced but his face wasn't able to affect them very much, almost completely eliminating his greatest strength. Facing a cetus higher leveled than his flame body sounded like suicide to him.

"Yeah… At least that strong, maybe even lv. 50," added Jack, causing the others to breathe heavy.

"Lv. 50…"

Both Zariff and Tridon couldn't even imagine what a fight against such a beast might entail.

"Are you sure? That strong?" Zariff was in disbelief. He didn't want Jack's words to be true, though he couldn't deny that only Jack was confident enough to value a beast's strenth so highly.

Jack began to laugh. Picturing a lv. 50 beast was never too terrifying for him before. It was always on a computer screen and he had almost always been far stronger than something like that. Now… it was a completely different story. He didn't know what to think are what he might do.

"I'm certain that more will come, and I'm almost certain that there's a pride lord involved considering how many cetuses we've already encountered," explained Jack. "All things considered, what do you two propose we do now? I can't prove anything and you both know that the Royal Court won't support us. If we deny helping them, we'd put the city at risk and the association's reputation would be destroyed in the Reinolt Kingdom."

The two men looked at each other. Neither of them could think of a plan of action off the top of their heads. They were both still trying to imagine fighting a lv. 50 beast.