The Achievement Junkie

"Honey, please calm down! It's so long, there's no telling what's happened to her by now."

Hesitating from her husband's words, Lunara struggled to compose herself. "I know Sterf, it's just that I can't help myself when I think about that terrible man."

Reading the mood, Jack was slowly starting to understand. "So, Halmut forced you into fighting by taking someone away from you? But, who could he have taken to make you agree?"

Sterfen looked at Jack. "You, Jack J., were the one who stole from me the most, but I don't hold you to it at all. I already know that you heroes were just trying to get stronger by completing missions given to you by the gods."

"But you weren't the only one, many others tried too. While most of them failed, a couple did succeed. One hero managed to steal something priceless from my wife while she was in her hydra form," explained Sterfen. "She had just gone through labor and she wasn't at her full strength when countless heroes attacked her and someone stole her egg."

Jack, Maura, and Daliea, the three people who knew about the egg, all glanced at each other, thinking the same thing. Could it be…

"That egg soon turned up in Halmut's possession. With it, he forced my wife into joining some of the key battles of the Holy War."

The God of Secrets went silent, staring at his wife's sad face.

"Eventually, we discovered that he had no intention of ever returning the egg. That was when I made it a point to steal it back, being the God of Secrets I felt it would be possible," explained Sterfen. "However, the egg was no longer in Halmut's possession… I searched all of the holy gods but couldn't find it no matter where I looked. That pestro had the gall to trick my wife with the egg, yet he had rid himself of the egg the entire time."

"That pestro!" yelled Lunara. "He deserves death! Jack, you must make sure to kill that man!"

"Calm down, please, Luna," holding her hand tightly, Sterfen pled with his wife. "Jack may be Daruun's champion, but I'm not sure he'll be able to kill a main god. To do that, he'd have to become a god in the first place."

"Actually, that sounds like an interesting idea," Jack showed Sterfen an intrigued look. "Something like that is possible."

With a nervous chuckle, Sterfen added, "I may have said too much. Either way, now you know why my wife got involved in the Holy War against her will."

Jack's party members were mumbling to themselves in the background, to nervous to speak up.

"So… the Nine-headed Glacial Hydra from the Holy War wasn't just a beast, it was Lunara fighting in secret?" Jack deduced the truth easily thanks to there explanation. "Sterfen, Lunara, is there any way that we could get you to help us on our journey?"

"What exactly do you mean?" asked Sterfen with a puzzling look on his face.

"I don't mean for you to actually be with us. If you did that, we would never level up ourselves. But, would you allow Rydel and Maura to pledge to you and received your highest blessings, your legendary blessings?"

Rydel wasn't too surprised by Jack's question, but Maura was. Though she hadn't yet chosen a neutral god she wanted to pledge to, she never expected to get a chance to pledge to the Water Goddess.

"Hmm, that's quite a bold question to ask. You know full well that such blessings require, so that must mean you have something of equal value to offer. And no, I won't accept your cloak in exchange for such a blessing," stated Sterfen.

Lunara looked at Jack, surprised that he was so confident when asking for such a blessing.

"Jack, you may not know this, but we can only have one legendary blessing active at a time. While we don't have anyone pledged to us at the moment, asking such a thing is too much, even for the legendary Jack J."

"Well, since you know I'm Jack J., you know that I've always found a way to accomplish anything I want, no matter what," Jack laughed, still remaining confident. "I think that after we show you what we have to offer, you'll be begging for us to accept your legendary blessings."

"Bold words indeed…" Sterfen smiled a little. "You're definitely Jack J., no one else could ever talk to a god like that unless they were a god themselves. So, what is it that you're offering?"

Jack sighed and gave Maura a nod, making both Sterfen and Lunara turn and look at her as well.

She trembled as she tried to calm her nerves. Maura stood up, bowed, and retrieved a large item which she placed on the table for everyone to see.

The other party members were startled. They had no clue that Maura had come to possess such an egg.

Eliza recognized it as the egg she sold to Jack but wasn't able to figure out why they brought out a fossilized egg.

"I'm guessing you both know better than I do as to what kind of egg this is," said Jack with his confident laugh.

The peculiar looks on Sterfen's and Lunara's faces vanished instantly.

Unable to hold herself back, Lunara put her hand on the egg, crying. "You… How did you…"

"If there's one thing I don't question anymore after meeting Daruun, it's fate," stated Jack with a shrug. "From what I know, that egg isn't dead yet but is only lacking water type energy. It should've run out of energy long ago and perished, but if it's the daughter of two gods, then I guess that would explain how it had abnormal energy levels to begin with."

Holding the egg tightly, Lunara dropped to her knees. She didn't care if Jack's party saw her like that. It had been almost one thousand years since she had lost her child and they were unable to successfully have another one.

The odds of two gods having a child were startlingly low, so it was a miracle that it happened in the first place.

Laughing uncontrollably, Sterfen looked to Jack and his party. "Of course, expect the Legend of Trodar to do something that even the gods thought impossible. You've done it again… I think my wife will agree with me when I say that we're willing to offer these two our legendary blessings."

"Yes, I agree!" shouted Lunara. "To have her back… Even in my wildest dreams, I was unable to find her, yet here she is in my arms. Thank you, Jack, thank you!"

"Don't thank me just yet, I have one other favor to ask."

Hearing that, Sterfen kept his smile and waited for Jack to ask the favor. Lunara returned to her seat on the couch, but she kept the egg in her arms as she did so.

"You both know that your daughter will hatch after giving her enough water type energy. And since it's been so long, I'd imagine that the egg will hatch the moment it has enough, which shouldn't be hard with Lunara taking care of that," stated Jack.

"What I want to ask of you two is if you'll let your daughter join our party."

"Absolutely not!"

"Absolutely!"

Two replies came at the same time.

Lunara, who disagreed, was startled to hear that her husband agreed to such a thing. "Sterf, why would you agree to that?!"

"Honey, you know that she'll have to level up and get stronger. Here, hidden away with us, she'll never get very far. And if Halmut learned that we found our child, what would he do?" reasoned Sterfen, shaking Lunara's heart.

Jack agreed with Sterfen, "I was thinking the same thing. And since your daughter isn't like other monsters, I think she'll be able to make a pact with me while at the same time have a mutual seal with Maura, the girl that would be pledging to you, Lunara."

"And since you agreed to give her your legendary blessing, you'll know where both Maura and your daughter are at all times. It's not like she'll be far away. If anything, Maura and I would be able to help level her up while you would still be able to protect her and care for her from a distance."

The Water Goddess carefully considered Jack's words.

Her maternal instinct wanted to stay with her daughter from the moment she hatched, but a part of her maternal instincts also agreed with Jack's logic. To survive in the future, her daughter would need to grow, and there wasn't a party that could offer a better leveling experience than Jack's.

Continuing, Jack added, "Also, I happen to have plenty of low-level EXP pots. I can help her instantly reach lv. 30, so you won't have to worry about her not being able to protect herself while she's with us."

"Plus, if I'm able to accomplish whatever it is Daruun has planned for me, then there's a chance that you and your husband won't have to hide away anymore," persuaded Jack. "You'd be able to live in the open again, together with your daughter."

Jack's offer was sounding better and better every time he opened his mouth.

Sterfen was already sold since Jack was the champion his leader had chosen, but Lunara was still on the fence. She clutched the egg and hugged it tightly, pondering what was best for her daughter.