The Achievement Junkie

"HALMUUUT!!!"

Lunara's roared echoed within the limited space of the silence spell. It forced Jack to cover his ears from being too close.

"That rotten… no good…" Lunara mumbled as her shouts deescalated into furious mumbles and gibberish.

"Mom… How long did you know about Kylon and Skaryn being together?" Jack asked.

After many deep breaths, Lunara composed herself enough to answer but couldn't help shouting. "I knew before they were a thing! Kylon taught me a lot growing up. I was her apprentice!"

"What?! You were--"

"She practically adopted me!" continued Lunara. "Remember, I'm a Nine-headed Glacial Hydra! Have you ever heard of any other Nine-headed Glacial Hydras?"

"... No…"

"Because there are none! I'm the only one, apart from Little Lina!" Lunara was now standing up, stomping around the couches as she fumingly continued, "Sure, there are Glacier Wyrms and Glacial Hydras, but there aren't any Nine-headed Glacial Hydras! Do you think I liked being born with extra heads?! I was the laughing stock of the species!"

Jack listened carefully, not wanting to miss this nugget of unknown information.

"After being treated like a freak for almost a hundred years, I was fed up and ran away… I've never gone back since…"

"Gone back where? I thought you and the Glacier Wyrms were from Aazoon."

"The Glacier Wyrms are from Aazoon, but I believe their species evolved from ours to live on land," answered Lunara. "Glacial Hydras originate from Glacier Reef."

"Glacier Reef? What kind of place is that?!"

"It predates ancient Kartonia and never get's visitors. Even Flood Dragons aren't comfortable with the extreme temperature there…" Lunara sighed, thinking back thousands of years on long-forgotten memories. "Head west from the coast of Aazoon and you'll eventually find it if you're traveling the seafloor, but you'll need to survive more than ten thousand meters below the surface."

"Ten thousand meters?! That's where you come from?!" Jack shouted, trying to compare the depth to anything he had ever heard of in his past life.

Nodding, Lunara continued, "Glacial Hydra's commonly have three heads as adults, with some rarely having six. But Six-headed Glacial Hydras were always seen as weaker, so my mother was the beggar of society. She passed while I was young and left me alone. Then, after growing my third head during adolescence, the mocking and taunting were too much for a kid to bear. So I ran away. I fought my way upward as I tried to reach the surface.

"Eventually, I was spotted by some passing Flood Dragons. At first, I tried to fight them but I passed out before anything happened…" Sighing, Lunara paused.

"When I woke up, I found myself in an underwater cave. The water was much warmer than anything I had felt before, so my body was still adjusting. So many Flood Dragons were staring at me, wondering why I was complaining. But then… I suddenly felt a comforting frost rush over my body. I almost fell asleep it was so welcoming. Instead, I saw her. It was Kylon, not even lv. 70 at the time."

"I can still remember her soft words… 'Does that feel better?'... I was instantly attached to her and followed her everywhere. Eventually, as my body acclimated, she started teaching me new skills that I had never seen in Glacier Reef. In turn, I shared some of my skills. Now, Kylon is the only non-glacial beast that can naturally form a frost body…"

"So you got to see them interact?" asked Jack.

"It was rare, but yes. Kylon wouldn't let me be around Skaryn very much, not until I got more comfortable around humans." Lunara added, "The reason Flood Dragons found me in the first place was due to my fight with some human fishermen. They tried to capture me as a rare species to sell me or something, but I put up a fight and ran. I didn't realize it but I turned their boat into a glacier before I escaped. That caught the Flood Dragons' attention pretty well."

"Then… Does Kylon--"

"Of course she cares for Skaryn!" shouted Lunara, getting Jack to cover his ears again. "Every time he visited, that's all she would talk about for weeks! That was why she was so intent on gaining a human form as quickly as possible. The moment she reached lv. 80, Kylon stopped focusing on EXP and meditated day in and day out. She's the reason I gained a human form before I ascended and the reason Sterfen and I met!"

"Wait… Skaryn and Kylon played matchmaker with you two?" questioned Jack.

"Sort of… eventually…" Lunara shrugged. "I soon left on my own journey but I would still visit on occasion. However… After Kylon had joined the Holy Gods, she stopped talking about Skaryn entirely. It was strange how she avoided the topic, which I assumed was a result of heartbreak. Yet she always took time to compliment Sterfen as a unique rising-star and encouraged me to pursue him.

"At the time, I was already a demigod and had formed an idiotic contract with Halmut to follow in the footsteps of Kylon, only to learn of Halmut's trickery against Kylon later. But I had many suitors chasing me while Kylon suggested to look outside of the holy demigods and choose Sterfen, a human with no ties to Halmut…

"Little did I know that she had me live out her fantasy… After thousands of years, I learned yesterday that Sterfen was Skaryn's pupil, which means Kylon was vicariously living through mine and Sterfen's relationship…" Lunara sighed, showing a slight frown, "But I don't blame her… I'm happy she convinced me to pursue him, so I have no regrets about that."

Taking that all in, Jack gave Lunara a moment before he tried to summarize everything. "So… now you know why Dad left."

"But…" Lunara hesitated. "I trust Sterfen, but this something new… He's never gone after someone as strong or as prepared as Halmut."

"Trust him, and trust his training. Dad's more amazing than you know. I'm sure we'll explain why in the next few days."

"Thanks, Jack…" Lunara pulled Jack in for a hug, glad to have a son like him.