The Achievement Junkie

Everyone was no either running into constructs or other teams. Moranti had his scythe at the ready, carving through wolf constructs and a few giant bear constructs as well. Lunara's frost body and spear allowed her to trap and shatter all constructs like fragile dolls, unable to retaliate against her onslaught. Rynheart faced similar circ.u.mstances, strategically one-shotting anything that dared share his path. Rynheart was also the first of the party to notice something about absorbing keys.

Every time he absorbed keys, Rynheart could sense a morsel of that energy entering himself as well, not just the card. And the energy was so pure that put everything else to shame. The energy gathered from the overworld of Kartonia couldn't compare at all. Mumbling to himself, Rynheart sighed, "If only I had entered this place sooner…"

Dropping his thoughts aside, Rynheart shared his findings. 'Even if keys don't matter, kill as many constructs as you can. Their pure energy is better than anything Kartonia has to aid a second ascension. Thanks to those sacred fruits, anyone on the bring of passing lv. 99 should manage to ascend.'

'REALLY?!' Moranti shouted.

They had all noticed that the constructs were offering them unofficial EXP, or what their bodies translated as EXP. The leftover energy of the constructs offered abundant energy that they had absorbed as EXP and hadn't realized was as pure as Rynheart implied.

'Then I can--'

'You still need to reach the very top of lv. 99, but anyone should ascend after that so long as they come through Glacier Keep. That is if the entire keep is like this,' added Rynheart.

Jack agreed, 'Then Lunara should ascend today, right?'

'I… I will?'

'Mom, didn't that last demigod put you at the top of lv. 99?' Jack mentioned, forcing her to realize it. 'You might be the first-ever Kartonian to become a two-star cosmician, Mom. That's awesome!'

'That… wow…' She was taken aback by that realization, having never thought such a thing was even possible or imaginable.

'I've found a team,' Rynheart shifted the conversation elsewhere, 'and they weren't with the crowd from earlier. I'll scout them and move on.'

'Thanks for the… I found one too, and they don't look friendly…' Moranti added with a nervous chuckle. 'I'll see if I can force my way through.'

'Keep in touch,' Jack stated while connecting to everyone briefly via god's perspective and updating the map. 'Moranti, your group should be at least mid-level gods if not near your level. Don't be afraid to attack but flee the moment they prove too much. Rynheart, I think your group is a bit more difficult, but these are only assumptions.'

'I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.' Rynheart replied, keeping his invisibility before deciding whether to attack or not.

'If you need help, Mom, just say it. We need to make sure you last long enough to ascend.'

'Thanks, Jack… I'll tell you right away.'

While Moratni confronted the four-man team in his way and Rynheart analyzed how quickly he could remove the team impeding him, Jack found his first team-encounter as well. Jack was invisible but he dropped that the moment he saw the other team.

"Wollice, how did you like the keys?"

Laughing, the twin showed Jack a curious smile. "Pretty good, but that's not enough. How many do you got on you?"

"Enough, just barely enough…" sighed Jack, shrugging.

"Then hand them over." Wollice drew his common-looking sword and raised one eyebrow to his newest foe. "Or do you dare protect them?"

"But where's Woltin?" Jack asked.

"Good question, too bad I don't know."

"So it's just you and one teammate yet you're confident enough to challenge me?" Jack joked. "You're something else, you know that?"

"I can say the same to you, but I'm stronger so too bad."

White and bright yellow energy gathered around Wollice's blade as he seemingly vanished from Jack's sight. To the hero's startlement, Wollice was directly in front of him with his sword lunging toward Jack's chest. The attack was faster than anything that Jack was expecting, forcing him to teleport away.

"That… You're too fast, Wollice…" Taking a deep breath, Jack reappeared a few meters away and put a hand over his chest. A small stream of blood spread over Jack's fingers as he healed himself.

"Space skills? You're a rare one, indeed," laughed Wollice. "Too bad you can't keep up… Will you pass the points over or not?"

"Um… how can he do that?"

Both Jack and Wollice looked to Wollice's teammate, chuckling. Then, Jack raised his hands in innocence with his card visible to all. "Tell you what. I'll pay you half of my keys and let you go free. I think that's pretty generous, don't you?"

Wollice rubbed his forward as he sighed and laughed at the same time. "That… You're something special, Jack. I see why Woltin liked you. I'll accept that."

The two frenemies took their cards and walked casually toward each other. But as they got close, they heard more people incoming. Another team had found them before the exchange could begin.

"Do you mind, Halmut, we're a bit busy?" Jack shouted, acting as if the appearing team was no big deal.

"Hand over your card. Be lucky that I can't kill you for good in here, so I'll allow you to disgracefully withdraw," stated Halmut, morphing into his hybrid form without wasting time.

"Can I--"

"Wollice, I'll give you all my keys if you leave right now."

Confused, Wollice looked to Jack with jaw agape. "... What?"

"I'll give you all of my keys if you move on and leave Halmut's team alone," Jack repeated. "I don't want that runt to lose here. It would be more humiliating for me to torment and torture him throughout the keep."

Taking off his armband, Jack put in on Wollice but never let go of it. His other hand slid Jack's card under Wollice's beginning the transfer immediately.

"How dare you--"

"Can't you see we're busy, Halmut? Go play with someone else your own size. Wait… Rikko didn't come with us this time…"