The Achievement Junkie

Inside that mental space, Jack felt a surge of power unlike anything he had ever experienced. Though he was focusing on the mental space, the changes occurring to his body were so overwhelming that he was forced to open his eyes.

That exoskeleton armor remained across Jack's back and torso, but feathers began to sprout as Jack's arms grew longer to form wings while maintaining those insectoid claws jutting from the ends of Jack's wings. His deathly jaws didn't change, but his eyes became draconic and mimicked the Minokawas. As Jack's body was finishing taking shape, red-hot flames started to gather around his new form.

Witnessing Jack's transformations back to back was awe-inspiring to the men at the entrance.

Bowzer was in awe of the power that Jack was putting off and could feel his bloodline reacting to Jack's new form. The fox felt comfortable with the new form, yet there was a small part of him that felt slightly threatened by the raw bloodline energy that Jack was releasing. It was hard for Bowzer to comprehend.

Dragov was smiling with his mouth open wide. Such a sight was great news for him since he was a key component of that transformation. And being so high leveled, the threat he felt was more minimal.

"Careful, Jack," Daruun spoke up. "I wouldn't go straight to combining all three if I were you."

"Why's…"

Jack flapped his wings and leaped off Dragov to resume his flight. But he only fell. A blood clot spewed from Jack's mouth as he lost control and plummeted to the ground.

The others started to take action and hurried to Jack's side as the hero's bloodline powers faded away.

"As I said,' Daruun sighed, "I wouldn't try using three bloodlines at once. You're lucky that the three bloodline abilities aren't counterintuitive. While searching for that companion, don't try to merge bloodlines until you're stronger. Or it might be due to the low level of your bloodline skill."

"Well… Which is it…" Jack stammered while wiping the blood from his mouth.

"Probably both." Daruun chuckled, slapping a frown on Jack's face.

Sighing and struggling to sit up, Jack looked back to the god. "Then… What level should my skill be to merge the three bloodlines?"

"To merge three? You haven't even tried to merge two yet, which would still fail by the way. Increasing your level will increase the strength of your body, allowing you to hold the transformations longer and better use them. But that will only prolong the pain of the transformations if you don't increase your bloodline skill," Daruun explained as Argyle helped Jack up to his feet.

"To successfully merge two bloodlines you'll need your bloodline skill at lv. 5. For three bloodlines, lv. 7 is needed. And don't dare to attempt four bloodlines until you've reached lv. 9."

"Then what happens at lv. 10?" questioned Jack, giving Daruun a curious look.

"That… I'm not going to tell you yet," replied Daruun. "Too many distractions will lead to your downfall, remember that."

"Right… But why can't you tell me now? It's not like it'll change anything in the immediate future," reasoned Jack.

"Why wouldn't it? You would just spend all your time trying stupid achievements to unlock more abilities. You'll need to do that, but there are other things that need to be attended to first," stated Daruun. "Just be lucky that you didn't fight the transformation and ended it. If you forced yourself to maintain that form, you could kill yourself."

"Then how should I spend them now?" Jack asked.

Daruun smiled. "Upgrade your bloodline skill to at least lv. 5, or maybe even lv. 6 if you're excited to use the three bloodlines sooner. And no, I'm not giving you a freebie as I did for your telepathy skill."

While the others were a bit confused, Jack quickly opened his skill list and poured his newly gained skill points into his bloodline skill.

Five hundred and sixty skill points later, Jack left his remaining twenty skill points inside the system and looked back to Daruun. "So, now I should be able to mere two bloodlines?"

"For a short time. It would've been for a minute, but you extended that to three minutes by making it lv. 6." Daruun chuckled, "I'm glad my grandson is listening to his grandpa."

"Sure, but does that mean I can call you old-timer as my grandpa?" Jack joked.

"Maybe later, but don't you need to get going, Jack?"

Looking back to Daruun's amiable smile, Jack remembered his three-day time limit to recruit a god. The hero turned to Tralon and asked, "Can you send me to Sunset Valley?"

"I'd love to, but I only have enough mana to send you there. After creating such a grand space for Dragov, I've already used most of my mana," stated Tralon.

"Then could you send me and Phoro there? It will cut my travel time in half."

"That's more than doable. A great idea, Jack." Tralon smiled. "Phoro and the cranes are in the courtyard east of here. Also, keep in mind that the courtyard to the west is filled with the remaining Dark Beholders from below. Since they still worshipped Daruun, he altered all their minds to relieve them of their insanity at the cost of becoming obedient to you."

"Oh… that'll be useful." Jack scratched his head for a moment. "Keep them a secret and don't let them leave that courtyard. I'd rather keep them as a secret line of defense now that they're no longer insane. They'll make terrifying security guards for suspecting attackers. How many are there and what's the range of their levels?"

"There are only a dozen left if you include Mooldrat. The three youngest beholders that avoided being eaten are over lv. 40 while most are around lv. 65. There are, however, three others besides Mooldrat over lv. 70," explained Tralon, glad to report such a boost in strength for the guild.

"And how many days do you have left again?"

"That… I've got eleven months and twenty-six days left, according to Daruun," Tralon replied while looking at the ground.

Jack nodded and scratched his head again. "Then I'll make sure to figure something out within eleven months and twenty-five days, just to be safe."

"Okay, Jack. If there's anyone who could figure something out, then it would be you."

As Jack nodded and left to get Phoro, Daruun kept a slight smile. "Jack, don't forget to redo Tralon's and Argyle's pacts."

"I'll do that before I leave with Phoro!"

Jack's shout rang out just before he closed the door behind him. Looking back, Jack found a regular looking exterior to Dargov's courtyard, hiding the giant space carved out below.

Then, Jack rushed into the courtyard just east of Dragov's home. There Jack found the cranes enjoying comfy nests and spreads of delicious food. And like Jack expected, Phoro was given the largest and most plush nest of all, covered in cushions and surrounded in all sorts of food.

'Phoro! We've got to go!' Jack's voice shouted directly into the Minokawa's head. 'We're going somewhere, but to save you some energy I'm having Tralon teleport us there first.'

'Well, I guess I'll come along since you've gone to such lengths,' Phoro replied with a sigh.

The draconic bird lazily stretched before suddenly rocketing to Jack's side. "You don't have to scream at me, you know?"

"Right, you can speak normally now. I'll remember that for later." Turning back to the door, Jack held it open. "Come on, we don't have any time to waste."

"Why such a hurry?" asked Phoro, disappointed.

"Because I've got three days to get to Prachten and back, then travel to Korten and back. Without you, that would be impossible, Phoro."

"What about your friend, Tralon? Can't he just teleport you back and forth?"

"His current energy levels won't allow him after he built that space for Dragov."

"Dragov? Who's that?" Phoro asked in front of the door leading to Dragov's underground space.

"Right… You never met him on the eleventh floor. He was the dungeon boss, but now he's the guardian of the guild. Open the door and see for yourself." Jack smiled, motioning toward the well-disguised space.