The Achievement Junkie

As the small party left the main road, the sounds of some distant animals were heard. Slivia frowned slightly. "Jack, are you sure about this?"

"Of course, don't worry about it. Nothing's strong enough to threaten us around here," replied Jack. "Now, both me and Bowzer are lv. 18 and can protect you from anything."

"Okay," agreed Slivia. She held Jack's hand a little tighter as they went further into the forest.

On the way, they passed a few animals and even fought a few grey wolves, if you could call Bowzer one-shotting the wolves and trying to eat them alive. It took some bribing, but Jack was able to convince Bowzer to leave the corpses until they finished with the hidden tomb since they were nearly there.

It was already late afternoon with the sun beginning to set when Bowzer slowed and came to halt. 'Here.'

Jack let go of Slivia's hand and approached the center of the small clearing. There were some large rocks and a few fallen trees, but it appeared completely normal.

He removed his storage the necklace and, like before, sliced the palm of his hand to coat the necklace in blood. After he deemed it to be enough, Jack wrapped his hand in bandages to stop the blood loss.

Slivia already expected this, but nonetheless, she hated to see that part of the ritual.

"I command thee, show me thine owner!" recited Jack, holding the necklace in front of him.

The blood began to glow as it seeped into the necklace. Soon, the necklace itself glowed instead, marking that they were near the tomb's entrance.

Jack pointed in every direction and eventually walked toward a large rock that was lodged in the ground. As the necklace grew brighter, Jack's smile got wider. He circled the boulder and eventually pressed the necklace against one of its sides.

Though Slivia had seen such a sight before, she was still in awe as she saw the face of the boulder deteriorate at a visible speed and leave an opening and a narrow staircase going into the depths of the rock.

Bowzer hopped back onto Jack's shoulder as they entered with Slivia right behind them. After twenty or so steps, the saw a marble entryway with the name "PleasantLilly98" above it. Without hesitation, Jack entered.

"Hey Jack, why are these hero names so strange?" asked Slivia.

"Well…" Jack tried to come up with some sort of explanation but drew a blank. How do you explain a computer game to people from a time where the best mode of transportation is still horseback? "I'm sure I'll explain it at some point in the future."

"Then why not now?" Slivia was surprised, not because Jack refused to answer but because he acted like he genuinely knew the answer. "I thought I was special to you…"

Jack sighed as he looked back at Slivia, who drooped her head and pouted with puppy dog eyes. He couldn't help but realize how much of a tease she really was. "It's tough to explain, and there's too much context for you to understand at the moment. In the future, there will come a time when I explain everything."

"Including why you know so much weird stuff?"

"Yes, including why I know so much," answered Jack. "But for now, let's check out the tomb and see if there's anything of value."

She nodded with a smile, quickly walking past Jack to the chests, not giving him the chance to pocket everything before she got a good look at the treasures.

With a light chuckle, Jack realized he had been played. He walked beside her and looked into the chest she had opened.

"Look, Jack, more platinum!" Slivia in awe at the chest filled to the brim with gold and platinum. "What do you say we split it 50/50?"

Looking at her beaming smile he could only agree with a nod, nonchalantly passing his hand over the chest to retrieve half the coin. She did the same and held tightly to her own storage necklace, extremely proud of her findings.

Jack couldn't help but sigh. "Since you're so excited, go ahead and open the next ones too. If there's anything you suitable for you then you can have it."

Without a second thought, Slivia threw the open the lid of the next chest. However, the sheen in her eyes dulled and she looked very confused.

Curious what she found, Jack glanced inside and couldn't help but laugh.

"What? What's so funny? What's this supposed to be?" Slivia was very serious, forgetting her past excitement completely.

As Jack looked back at the chest, he let the system examine the armor inside. From a rarity standpoint, there was both a high-tier set and a peak-tier set. The high tier seemed to be that of a valkyrie and was a lv. 10 set.

The peak-tier set's base level was 15, so it was obviously the stronger of the two, not even counting that it was peak-tier and equivalent to very rare cash items. Like the other set, it too was themed, but it's theme was probably the reason Slivia was so confused. It only had three pieces: a scanty, fine linen bottom with a soft tail at the back, a tight, bra-like top made of the same soft fabric, and a headband with plush cat ears.

As much as Jack knew that Slivia might refuse to wear it, Jack was determined to convince her to at least try it on.

"Slivia, you're really lucky, you know that?"

"Really? Why's that?" asked Slivia.

"That top set is high-tier lv. 10 valkyrie armor, much better than anything you have. It's also quite valuable and could be sold for a hefty sum," explained Jack. "What you should keep is the other set of armor."

"What other set of armor? All I see is underwear and a furry headband," said Slivia, still confused yet happy for the valkyrie armor.

"That is the other set," said Jack plainly. "During ancient times, some things were crafted by the gods and blessed to be different. That feline armor set is one of those is far better than the other, it also happens to be peak-tier and lv. 15, perfect you."

Though it was definitely a more powerful than the valkyrie armor, by no means was it made by the gods. Looking at the flavor text, Jack knew that it was from the premium "femme feline" item set and only existed due to the desires of gamers and popular demand, despite its amazing stat boosts of course. But that wouldn't stop Jack from trying his best to see Slivia try on this outstanding armor.

Slivia slowly turned her head to look him in the eye. "You're telling me that in ancient Kartonia, underwear was stronger than armor?"

"In some cases, far stronger," Jack agreed with a serious nod, not daring to reveal his true intentions.

"As much as I want to believe you, I would rather get this appraised before jumping to crazy conclusions," stated Slivia. She squinted at Jack, not buying the act for a second.

"Fine, go ahead and store it. We'll swing by a reputable merchant on the way home," replied Jack, happy that she at least agreed to take it. "Hurry up and open the last two chests.

She smirked at Jack and stored the two sets of armor before opening the next chest.

Inside was exactly what Jack was expecting, a valkyrie sword and kitten mittens. Though the sword wouldn't work for Slivia, the kitten mittens were an accessory and not a weapon. That way Slivia could get the stat boost while still being able to use a staff or wand for spells.

Seeing him stare at the mittens, she let out a small grunt to catch his attention. In response, he looked back at her and said, "What? It completes the set of armor."

Not wanting to believe, she swiped over them and put them in storage. Slivia then pushed him out of the way and opened the last chest.

Inside there wasn't much. There was a map, a magic book, a scroll, and a stone talisman. While Slivia grabbed the book, scroll, and map, Jack snatched the talisman without any hesitation. Realizing that Jack found the item to be the most valuable, she asked, "What's the big deal?"

"A tutorial stone," whispered Jack, as if talking to himself for a moment.

"A what?"

"It's something that all heroes of ancient Kartonia began their journeys with. Back then, everyone thought it was practically worthless, but now…" Jack stared intently at the stone talisman, examining the glyphs etched on its surface.

"Then why is it so special now? Even more than this?" She held up the magic book, obviously treasuring the ancient magic that could be found on its pages.

Jack only nodded without another word. He soon closed his eyes and recited, "Show me thy way, oh great diviner."

Suddenly, the etching on the talisman burst with blinding white light. It took a few moments to dissipate, letting Jack blink and reinspect his surroundings.

He looked at Slivia, but she appeared to be frozen in time, unmoving and not even breathing. Next, Jack looked at Bowzer on his shoulder and found the fox to be experiencing the same phenomenon. Curious what would happen, Jack ducked down and stepped backward, finding Bowzer to float in the air, unaffected by Jack no longer supporting him.

"Enjoying yourself?"

A serene, deep voice asked from behind Jack, yet Jack wasn't surprised or startled but was grinning from ear-to-ear.