The Achievement Junkie

They traveled in silence down the main road for about an hour. That was when veered off the path and entered the edge of the South Forest. The others followed and Keela, in particular, was excited now that she would finally get to enter the South Forest for real.

Another half an hour passed, in which a few weak creatures had confronted the party only to get easily killed. Jack finally stopped and turned to face everyone.

"Alright, first off, let's bring out our beast companions. From this point on, I only want to see them put away when other adventurers are around us or it's absolutely necessary," reasoned Jack. "You all need time to bond with them, that way you and your companions can trust each other."

Maynard, Rydel, and Daliea all nodded, releasing all the beasts inside their rings. Each beast then stayed with their companion, keeping to themselves and not infuriating the others.

The Flame Tiger was an exception. It stuck up its chest, acting like the other beasts were beneath it. That was until it saw the Thunder Cat and the roc, which were also level five beasts like the tiger. But the cat and the roc didn't pay the tiger any attention. Instead, they looked forward and saw Bowzer on Jack's shoulders.

When the Tiger followed the Thunder Cat's line of sight, it saw Bowzer but didn't think much of him.

Sensing the tiger's stare, Bowzer looked bat at it. Suddenly, the tiger sensed the threat of death, like it was only an insect in front of that small fox. It wanted to lash out and fight Bowzer, but it didn't dare. The strength of Bowzer's bloodline was enough to shut it up, so it wouldn't dare anger such a threatening beast.

"Now that we're finally alone and away from the public eye, I'll hand these out."

Jack retrieved the other three rings and sighed. If he had known that Eliza would be joining them, he would have bought another bestial ring.

"Don't worry about me Jack, my father already gifted me one," stated Eliza, noticing that Jack was one bestial ring short. "But why is that important now, we're a long way from lv. 30."

Smiling and happy that Argyle had anticipated the situation, Jack finished passing out the rings, giving all seven party members a lv. 30 bestial ring.

"This is where things are going to get interesting. Those of you who are new to the party, everything that it is about to occur will fill you in on some of my biggest secrets. If you dare share this information with anyone without my permission, know that I won't hesitate to silence you by any means. Is that understood?"

Keela and Eliza were shaken by Jack's threat. One was his wife and the other was someone who had willingly left her family behind to join Jack, yet he still was so cautious. It was clear to them that these things wouldn't be a joking matter.

"Since there are no objections, first, we'll make sure that everyone gets the new pact."

"Pact?" Again, both Eliza and Keela were clueless about what was going on.

"Maynard, since you were the first person to get the old pact, how about you be the first to receive the new one?"

Before Maynard could reply, two people had already stepped forward and stood in front of Jack. They looked at each other and both nodded before looking back at Jack, waiting to see what he would do.

"Maura, Daliea, you both know what this means, right?" Jack asked them, wondering if they would hesitate at all.

"Yes!" Both of them shouted in unison.

Seeing that they were determined to be the first, Jack looked to Maura and said, "Okay then, you'll be first and Daliea will be second. Both of you, hold out your hands. Everyone else, get close so I don't have to waste any blood."

Just then, Jack retrieved a knife and slit the edge of his finger, turning his index finger into a makeshift blood-ink pen. He proceeded to draw the new pact symbol on the back of Maura's palm.

Once he was done and he moved on to Daliea, Jack said, "Now, place a drop of blood in the center and it will be official."

Following his command, Maura poked her thumb with a knife and did exactly what she was told to do. The moment her thumb pressed into her hand, a sharp stinging pain came from everywhere the blood was. Slowly, the blood bonded with her skin and eventually vanished. The pain lingered a little, but Maura was feeling a lot better now.

By then, Jack had already finished with Daliea and Maynard's pact symbols. While everyone was feeling the stinging pain of the powerful pact, Jack had a slight smile on his face.

The new pact carried a lot of the same benefits as the last one, but there was no exchange of EXP involved with this one. Since they kept the skill-sharing ability, Jack would still be able to learn the other's skills while he would naturally be able to boost their skills.

Some of the girls were already noticing that they felt a bit different after the pact was finished. They felt lighter and more agile. Also, they felt that their bodies were naturally stronger even though nothing else had changed.

Daliea broke into laughter, struggling to believe how different she was now. "What kind of pact is this and why has my mana capacity increased?"

"It's not just your mana compacity, but also your mana regeneration speed that's increased," explained Jack, making Daliea smile even wider. "This pact allows you to access my skills and allows me the opportunity to learn your skill. Now, my subclass' skills are very different. Instead of learning sword techniques, I can raise my sword skill's general level."

"So far, I've raised my skills involving swords, knives, bows, dual-wielding, stealth, speed, health regeneration, physical resistance, mana capacity, and mana regeneration."

As Jack listed his general skills, which they now had gained by default, the women all stared at Jack like he was a priceless treasure. On their own, such skills would still be good. But put together with learned or created skills, those general level skills would make all the difference.

Eager to test it, Maura retrieved a sword and was instantly amazed. For some reason, the sword felt lighter. It felt like it was becoming an extension of herself when she had only just retrieved it.

Daliea did the same, casting a small spell in order to be amazed that her mana regeneration really had increased. Both Eliza and Keela did the same, in awe of that Jack had such unique skills.

"That's not all," added Jack. "I also have beast companion skills, which will let you borrow a tiny portion of your beast companion's bestial magic and abilities."

With a nod to Maynard as the signal, the others all looked to the samurai.

Suddenly, static electricity was visibly dancing around Maynard's body. As he activated his Sudden Death skill, they could hear the sound of electricity coursing through the air around them.

Looking behind them, there stood Maynard, still covered in electricity and smiling for them all to see.

"Also, know that whatever items you're using or wearing will also be affecting your beast companion. So in other words, make sure both you and your beast companion are comfortable with the items you use."

"Are you serious? You have that many skills?!" Keela was baffled, finding this all hard to believe in though it was happening before her eyes.

"Yup, and soon I'll upgrade my companion telepathy skill. That should be very useful for the party," added Jack. "Now, onto the next matter of business. Maura, Keela, and Eliza step forward and take this."

A velvet sack appeared in Jack's hand, indicating to Maura that it was finally going to happen. The other two girls saw Maura eager gaze and wondered what else could be so helpful.

"These are EXP pots."

"WHAT?!"

Both Rydel and Maynard stared at the bag with jealousy in their eyes. They had heard about the tales of EXP pots, even though they had never seen them or known if they really existed.

"Yes, these are ancient EXP pots, but they're only low-level EXP pots. That means they're only useful to those under lv. 30," explained Jack. "You three shouldn't be jealous since this is only a means of becoming mid-level experts. In my eyes, being lv. 30 is only enough to qualify us to travel and nothing more. Once we're all lv. 60, then I'll consider us a high-level party."

"But that will be far more difficult than anything you've ever done before. Also, our lives will be on the line at times and we'll all have to work together when that happens. With these, all of us will at least be lv. 30 and we can start looking for real monsters to farm EXP."

Jack handed Keela one EXP pot and two to Eliza. Maura received four EXP pots, making the other girls jealous even though they knew it was because Maura was so under-leveled. With six EXP pots for himself, considering Bowzer's level, they were all anxious to instantly become lv. 30's.

Putting some mana into the EXP pots, they all felt a sudden rush of energy surging through there bodies. Once they had used all the EXP pots, the three girls were panting from overwhelming shock.

They really had become lv. 30 adventurers.