The Achievement Junkie

Jack and Slivia exchanged glances, trying to read each other's moods. Slivia soon broke the silence, saying, "Well, I'm glad you're doing okay, Jack."

"Thanks, me too. I'm sorry for worrying you so much," apologized Jack. "I didn't mean to, I just… I didn't want him to take you. I couldn't let that happen."

Some red filled Slivia's cheeks when she heard that. "You know, I was never able to thank you for everything."

"That's fine. Don't worry about—"

Interrupting Jack's apology, Slivia leaned in close and lightly kissed his cheek. Before Jack could bring himself to say anything, she quickly stood up. "It's early and I should probably get some more rest. Thank you, Jack."

And just like that, Slivia darted out of the room without looking back.

Jack was left in the room, his mouth gaping in shock. Unsure of what to think, Jack looked back to Bowzer. Sadly, Jack found the fox sleeping comfortably and totally oblivious to what had just occurred.

He took a few minutes to try and process Slivia's kiss and shyness. Soon, Jack was almost certain that Slivia had feelings for him. Being smart enough to realize this yet too inexperienced to be confident in a relationship was Jack's current weakness.

Leaving that subject alone, for now, Jack realized that he had a lot of unread notifications in his system menu. Jack opened up the notifications and quickly reached his achievement list, baffled by what he found.

[Reach Lv. 10: completed]

[Complete First Mission: completed]

[Beat Leodoro II to lv. 10: complete]

[Discover the goblin benefactor: completed]

[Find Byron Balt: completed]

[Find any survivors: completed]

[Destroy the goblin city: completed]

[Survive the infestation: in progress]

Jack was ecstatic to see the long list of newly completed rewards and was anxious to claim them all, but something stopped him from doing so immediately. Instead, Jack selected the newest quest achievement in the hope to learn more.

[Survive the infestation: in progress]

[Survive the incoming infestation and help protect Reinolt City in the process. Reward: varies depending on the final result of the infestation. Event reward: 50 skill points.]

After reading the vague achievement description, he froze. Since there was a general event reward like in-game events, Jack was certain that something big was about to happen. That was when he realized that the event achievement was already in progress, meaning that the supposed infestation had already begun.

However, thinking about it this way made no sense to him. If the infestation had already begun and triggered that latest achievement, then why hasn't there been any special news being passed around town or in the association? Zariff wouldn't have been so casual had he received news of anything to that scale and Rydel and Maynard would've been informed, most likely.

Jack's brain began to hurt as he played out the scenario in his mind, unable to leave his bed and investigate himself.

Time passed slowly for him as the sun finally began to climb the sky and peak through the infirmary window. It's rays woke up the now stress-free Bowzer.

The fox stretched atop Jack's chest and yawned peacefully. Only after seeing the pained expression on Jack's face did he ask, 'What wrong, Jack?'

'Oh, you're finally awake.' Jack's stiff eyes blinked and repositioned from their trance, getting a full view of Bowzer. 'Wait, did you get bigger since last time?'

'Mhm, Bowzer bigger and stronger now,' replied the fox.

'But how?'

'No remember? Foxes grow with EXP, not time,' answered Bowzer.

'But this fast?!' Jack was floored when he realized that Bowzer had almost doubled in size, no longer the tiny pup who sat on his shoulders. 'How big are you supposed to get?'

'Bowzer a boy, so bigger than mom.'

Thinking back to the large, noble mother fox that he had shot some time ago, Jack began to imagine how big a fully grown Bowzer might be.

'What wrong, Jack?' asked Bowzer, getting back on topic.

Shaking his head to regain his mental clarity, Jack replied, 'Bowzer, can you sense any monsters or beasts nearby?'

'No, why?'

'Just cause.' Jack let his brain try to come up with some quick solutions but to no avail. 'If you ever sense another monster or beast, tell me right away, okay?'

Bowzer nodded and hopped off Jack with a spring in his step.

'Where are you going now?' asked Jack.

'Bowzer go with Sliv to town.' The fox smiled wide, not attempting to hide any of his excitement.

'But what about me? I thought you were glad I was okay and wanted to stay by my side?' Jack's eyes showed a hint of desperation, not wanting to be left alone in bed all day.

'But Bowzer want to see city. Jack okay now, just rest.' Not waiting for a reply, Bowzer snuck away after unlatching the lock with his tail and pushing the door open.

Jack almost cried, terrified by the immense boredom he knew he'd endure throughout the next few days.

*****

On the other side of town, just beyond the reaches of the king's castle was a vast estate filled with stables and fields of all kinds, containing a copious variety of beasts.

At the center of the estate stood a mansion built with exotic, dark green marble and golden ornaments all around. It's two towers at both ends of the mansion both had a full view of the entire estate, letting them keep an eye on everything.

Inside a small, dark room of that building sat a man in a dark green kimono with a samurai sword across his lap and his hands in a meditative pose. His eyes were closed as he sat with his legs crossed in front of a dim fireplace.

"Troni!"

A shout broke his concentration and forced him to turn towards the opening door in reply. "What is it, Father?"

"What is it? You know exactly why I'm here," yelled the burly man as he slammed the door behind him. "What kind of fox does that hero have and why haven't you told me anything about it?"

Startled by his father's statement, Troni answered, "How do you know about that?"

"You should've already guessed that the king isn't the only one with a man inside the association."

"What? I thought I was the only—"

"Just shut up, enough about that. Hurry up and tell me more about that fox. It must be rare; according to our rat, the information is classified even within the association," stated the Salendar family head. "He hasn't a clue about the fox, but you traveled with them. Knowing you, I'm sure you've taken the time to learn all about the hero and his fox."

Recognizing the determined look in his father's eyes, Troni shrugged and sighed, "What do you want to know? I can't say everything, but I might be able to answer a few questions."

"What breed is it? I heard that it's exotic and not from around here," asked the dad, happy to see his son's willingness.

"I can't say, it's an association secret," answered Troni.

"Oh, come on, I'm your old man. What harm will it do to fill me in about something so trivial? I'm sure I've seen it's kind before and will probably forget all about it soon enough."

Under his breath, Troni mumbled, "If only you knew."

"What did you say!?" Excitement flashed across the burly man's face. "If only I knew? You mean it's special enough to attract even the likes of me, Tridon Salendar, the kingdom's greatest hunter and breeder?"

Regretting his last statement, Troni looked back to the fireplace. "I'm in the middle of meditation right now, so hurry up and ask your questions. You know I won't answer anything I don't wish to answer."

"How strong is its bloodline?" Tridon stepped closer to his son, examining every inch of him and waiting to see any minute movements he made.

Troni did his best to remain still, but he couldn't keep himself from swallowing some saliva. He understood the type of man his father was and the last thing he would want his father to have is a Hell-flame Fox.

"Wow, it must be very special for you to be this determined," joked Tridon, understanding that the fox should be very high up on the bloodline test. "And for my last question, how old is it?"

"That I can say," replied Troni. "The fox should be a few months old, I think."

"You think? You should know full well how old a fox is by its appearance, I taught you that myself," stated Tridon, poking at his son's pride.

"Hey, it's not my fault. I was certain that is was only a few months old when I met Jack, but it's appeared to have grown a lot in the past few days so I'm not fully certain."

"Interesting." Tridon stroked his untamed bird as he smiled. "So it's rare enough to grow based on experience and not time. That changes things."

Afraid that he had said to much, Troni yelled, "Now hurry up and go. I'm about to reach lv. 20 and my master says I need to train my mind more before he teaches me the next level of swordsmanship."

"Don't worry, I won't be bothering you any longer. I've already gotten more than I was bargaining for," laughed Tridon, ecstatic to have a new target at the top of his list of potential prey.