The Achievement Junkie

Leaving the cavern wasn't difficult at all. Jack and Bowzer followed the tunnel to the end. There, they found an active ancient relic used for teleportation. The duo stepped onto it confidently, immediately sending them somewhere not too far from the northern end of the canyon.

'We're out!' Bowzer shouted. 'Now what? Do we need to find more of those stone thingies?'

'They're called tutorial stones, and yes we need to find another one. Except, we have no ride and Tralon's portals are useless if we don't know where we're going,' Jack sighed.

'Then where should we go?' asked Bowzer. 'Is there a big city nearby?'

Opening the map tab, Jack took a closer look at what Churstin had to offer. 'We're a few days away from the capital. That may be the best bet. Or…' Jack checked his surroundings and was happy that no one was in sight at the moment. 'Or we can check these.'

A pile of weapons appeared at Jack's feet, all of which were getting picked up by his system as items formerly belonging to ancient heroes.

'What are those?'

'Bowzer, these are my winnings from my little bet with Trax. Now, I can claim my rewards," Jack explained with a smile. 'Give me a moment to see which tombs are closest.'

With his system working its magic, Jack looked through nearly a dozen different weapons hoping to find the tombs of their past owners within Churstin. Some proved to genuinely come from Churstin while others came from across the continent.

There was a lv. 35 bow that originated from Reinolt, something Jack would have to remember for later. A couple of the tombs were also located in Talrania, again making Jack wish he could visit that mysterious nation. But ultimately, there were four tombs found within Churstin for the tag team to visit, and one wasn't too far away.

'Bowzer, first we'll head east toward the Fissured Mountains,' Jack hurriedly put the weapons away and climbed onto Bowzer's back. ���And since we're on a time crunch, just go as fast as you can. Don't worry about others seeing you, okay?'

'Alright!'

With obvious enthusiasm, Bowzer took off at full speed. The fox wasted no time as he streaked across the barren land surrounding the canyon and eventually found his way into a forest. Still, he showed no signs of slowing down.

Whenever wild beasts would step up against them, Bowzer would simply use his bloodline and watch them cower away from him. They didn't want to be bothered so that was the best solution.

They traveled through lunch without stopping. Jack ate some rations while Bowzer, with Jack's help, was constantly chewing on jerky as he ran.

As the sun fell, the party came to a halt at the edge of the forest.

'Bowzer, we'll stop here for the night.'

'But I can keep going!' Bowzer insisted. 'Don't we need to--'

'Bowzer, we'll need our rest before we reach the Fissured Mountains. You've never been there, so I'll tell you about my past experiences there.'

'Hey, Jack, how come you've been everywhere but you're so low-leveled? Is it because you were an ancient hero before?' Bowzer tilted his head, anxious for an answer.

'Yeah, that's why. I thought you knew that already?'

'I do. But weren't you also really high-leveled back then? Why aren't you that high-leveled like before?'

Jack pondered the question for a moment till he smiled. 'I don't know.'

'You don't know?'

'I don't know.' Jack shook his head. 'It's hard to explain my past situation… I'm not even sure how to explain the physics or reason behind it…'

'Physics? What's that?' More confused than ever, Bowzer leaned in closer to Jack.

Since Jack didn't want to make a fire or set up an actual campsite, He just took out a large bedroll for Bowzer and a chair for himself.

'Forget that word, it doesn't mean anything to you.' Jack was not about to start explaining such a broad thing as physics to a fox with what barely qualified as a medieval education level. 'This isn't going to make sense to you, but I want you to think of my previous self, the Legend of Trodar and the ancient hero, as something like an avatar… Also, an avatar is something that is controlled by someone outside it.'

'So… When you were an ancient hero, that wasn't your real body?'

'Right! Good job, Bower,' Jack praised the fox and scratched behind his ears. 'That's why I was lv. 1 when I got summoned here. I've kept all of my past knowledge, but I had no strengths of my past self.'

'Then what happened with your avatar?'

'I… I don't know… I've never really thought about it like that…' That new perspective and idea were added to Jack's running list of questions he had for Daruun. 'I'll have to ask Daruun that after we get more tutorial stones.'

'If we find your avatar, won't we also find all fo your high-leveled equipment? Wouldn't that be better than finding all these other tombs?'

'Yes and no,' explained Jack. 'If we find my avatar, I don't think I'll have any way too…'

'Jack? Jaaack??'

Thanks to Bowzer sharing his thoughts openly, Jack came to realize something. Sure, Jack didn't know what happened to his old body or his stuff, but Jack never thought that would do him much good till he was high-leveled anyway. What Jack forgot was one of his character's former titles and an item that was given to him along with that title.

'Daruun's Envoy…'

'What? Jack, speak up so I can hear you too!'

'Daruun's Envoy… One of the titles that my ancient self had earned was Daruun's Envoy. I was the first-ever person to earn that title, so I received a one-of-a-kind, legendary item. I thought it was useless and was only legend-tier for its flavor text… but maybe…'

'Maybe what?'

'That item was known as Daruun's Crest. Its flavor text said that it gave it's bearer the ability to act in Daruun's name. I used it for a few quests then stored it away… But it also…' As Jack's rambling came to an end, the hero took out a single ring and ran his fingers around its ridges.

'Jack… finish explaining things, please!' shouted Bowzer, startling Jack and breaking his concentration on the ring.

'Right! Sorry… where was I?' Jack stopped playing with the ring, only looking at it now. 'I may not know where my avatar is, but I do know where something else is. And I'm too anxious to not go there right now.'

'Wait, we're not going to the Fissured Mountains?! I ran all this way for nothing?' complained Bowzer.

'No, we're still going there and to the other tombs before we meet back up with the party. It'll be easier that way and they won't argue with me over what I find,' replied Jack. 'But where we're going now, we'll find things that even most lv. 85 heroes of the past had only wished to find.'

'Ohhh…' With his interest piqued, Bowzer couldn't stop wagging his tail. 'Then let's go right now! I don't need to sleep!'

'We will, but we'll want Tralon with us this time. Also, we're about to cheat our way up a few levels." An excited grin appeared on Jack's face, just like Bowzer.

'Hey, Tralon. Are you free right now? Tralon?'

'What is it, Jack? I'm busy discussing the ancient causes and effects of the Godly War with Choron and Sterfen,' replied Tralon in an annoyed tone.

'Well, how about you take a break from that and come get me. I'll need your help somewhere.'

'Where's that? I hope it's important and truly utilizes my abilities, given that I'm currently in the company of gods.'

Jack laughed, 'Tralon, we're heading to the storehouse.'