The Achievement Junkie

Halmut's concentration sharpened more and more with each word Jack uttered. As Jack proved to know much more than Halmut had ever anticipated, Halmut's impression of Jack immediately shot up from being an annoying mortal to existing as a serious threat. With more information than Halmut ever wanted someone else to have and such incredible use of life-threatening skills, Jack's existence had immediately joined Moranti and Sterfen atop Halmut's list of threats, potentially surpassing even Skaryn since Daruun was the cause of Jack's rise.

"Your skills hinge on your relationships with others." Halmut continued to deduce and infer Jack's abilities, "You make use of your companions' bloodlines and use the skills of the other gods… I don't know what Daruun has given you, but if you wish to work alongside me then I can guarantee your--"

"Not interested," Jack answered bluntly. "I don't care what you or Gem Inc can offer me. I doubt they could offer me what Daruun has, or even imagine what Daruun has offered me."

Not taking any chances, Halmut waved his hand and cast silence around them. "So you do know about them… All the more reason to join me! Jack, you don't know what Gem can offer you. This planet is only a stepping stone. If you continue, then you'll only be--"

"Playing into Daruun's plans?" Jack finished Halmut's statement. "And what's wrong with that? Why go against him when he gives me more than I ask for? If anything, why should I trust an organization that drugs up its members to give them momentary strength in exchange for loyalty? Why should I ruin my potential like that?"

"You know nothing of strength!" Halmut roared, squinting his eyes. "Should you meet them, then you'll understand."

"Meet who? Gem Inc or Jewel?"

Startled, Halmut went wide-eyed. "You… you know about Jewel?"

"You know about it too? You're more involved than I gave you credit," chuckled Jack. "So, are you ready to fight now or do you have any more offers for me?"

"I would prefer to not waste your potential, Jack. It would be better if--"

"If you would just give up and confess everything to Daruun," admitted Jack. "Then you still might get lucky and avoid death. He's a lot nicer than you give him credit."

Halmut sighed and shook his head slowly. "I guess that's enough talk… You have until I silence you to surrender and join me. I respect your strength and would rather have you as a partner. Under the right circumstances, I may even allow you to form a seal with me. Wouldn't that be worth your allegiance?"

"Nah! I prefer Spectral Dragon's personally. Their bloodline is much deeper than yours, trust me."

"Then just die!"

Finally, both draconic figures flapped their wings and darted toward each other at full speed. One unleashed his most powerful breath attack, the same attack which left Moranti with slow-healing scars. One threw a plethora of various attacks from different bloodlines to counter. Spatial Slash was enhanced by the Spectral Dragon bloodline. Hell Flare's potency was increased as black flames completely encircled Jack's body. Wind Blades aligned with Spatial Slash to increase synergy on top of its enhancement from the Minokawa bloodline.

An explosion of warring energies encircled both combatants as they collided, testing their claws and physical prowess against one another.

Jack was the first to be thrown out of the explosion, but he showed no signs of serious damage.

When the explosion subsided along with the shattered silence spell, Halmut was left standing in the air. "You're good… What level are you?"

"Tell me how you countered me. Then I'll tell you more about me," replied Jack, refusing to giveaway free information.

"You're not lv. 90, that's for sure… But how did you advance so quickly upon ascension? What did Daruun do to help you cheat?"

"More than you could ever know!" Jack laughed.

"Oh… Not only are so sturdy, but you heal also?" Halmut noticed the minor burns on Jack's exoskeleton vanishing under the black flames.

"How can I get burned? Do you see these flames? I know you felt them." Pointing at Halmut's side, Jack added, "We both heal and we both pack a punch. But what happens when we both go all out?"

The black flame body condensed onto Jack's claws. Spatial energy gathered into his jaws. Jack threw a barrage of Hell Flares while releasing his new Spectral Breath skill for the first time.

"Fascinating." Halmut was unperturbed but impressed. He used his own breath to counter the attacks, countering and overpowering the attacks. "You'll have to try harder than that."

The Sun Dragon rushed Jack again but Jack vanished from where he stood, appearing a few dozen meters away. This repeated a few times as Halmut gained more speed and used lighting and wind to boost his acceleration drastically.

Jack, on the other hand, focused purely on evasion while checking his newest notifications that could change everything.

After testing his initial attacks against Halmut, Jack's beliefs were confirmed. Jack was still much too weak to deal with the Sun Dragon in a head-on fight. But the ability to combine skills was a game-changer. With a feature like that, Jack's opportunities to grow stronger had infinitely grown.

He didn't want to spend more money unnecessarily, but the failed attempt to cripple Halmut made it necessary to have another powerful one-star skill. And judging by the cost, Jack assumed that he could possibly create one.

Jack agreed to the tree thousand skill point price tag and allowed his system to work its magic.

[Processing time: 1 minute]

A bit bummed by the delay, Jack refocused on the match. As Halmut got more serious with each of Jack's many dodges, Jack couldn't afford to divert any attention elsewhere.