The Achievement Junkie 139 Strengthing Bonds of Friendship

"Time's up! I'm going in now!"

Flint's boisterous announcement filled the tomb, startling Jack and derailing his train of thought.

"Whoa…" 

After Flint hurried in, Keela and Tarnel were right behind him. In their haste, they left the gagged Gret outside. Sadly, he would never get the chance to enter the tomb.

For them, they had never seen a hero's hidden tomb before. They didn't know that this one was far more beautiful and ornate than the others that Jack had raided; probably due to Ponlinne's high level.

Unlike Jack, they scoured the tomb and took in every detail. They noticed many statues that looked like armed adventurers, lining the walls of the tomb. In the center was a magnificent sepulcher and just beyond it was a great fountain of the clearest water they had ever seen.

Only now did Jack pay attention to the statues around him. He had just thought that they were representations of Ponlinne's past guildmates. However, he soon realized that there was something special about each statue.

"Those weapons…" Some of the statues were holding high-level items! Most of them didn't, but some actually had a high-level weapon that most likely belonged to whoever the statue represented.

It was hard to tell because they were covered in dust, cobwebs, and mildew like the rest of the statue. But would Jack's system not recognize such things in plain sight?

While Jack started gazing at the different statues, the others approached the fountain with sparkling eyes.

"It's a former life spring." Jack's words gave them goosebumps as they gripped the edge of the fountain tightly. "All that water has the same properties of common healing potions."

"Water… that works like a healing potion?" Keela was shaking as she slowly extended her hand to the water's surface.

While Flint was taking deep breaths to help control his enthusiasm, Tarnel was eyeing the spring heavily.

"Go ahead, jump in. If you can spend an hour in there, Tarnel, you'll probably leave fully healed."

The moment Jack gave Tarnel the okay, the broken mage let go of the crutches and fell into the water. 

He only kept his head above the water's surface, everything else was being cleansed by the water's magical properties. To him, it felt like the most comfortable bath he had ever taken. Slowly but surely, the magical properties of the water would pulsate against his skin and gradually seep into his body.

Not wanting to lose out, Flint jumped high into the air and did a cannonball into the fountain. The sloshing waves dripped out of the fountain and made Keela realize what was going on.

"Hey, don't taint the water!"

"Don't worry about them, this water can't be tainted so easily," explained Jack, who was still examining the statues. "It's magic, so how could dirt affect it? If that were true, then why is everything here covered in centuries of grime other then the fountain?"

"Well… I guess you're right," agreed Keela. That's when she noticed how carefully Jack was examining a few statues. "What's caught your eye? Something special?"

With a laugh, he looked back at the other three. He was pondering what to do with those items he had missed. If he wanted, he could take them all for himself. Or… he could cement a few bonds as allies for the future.

"Tell you what, I'm going to be nice to you guys." 

The other two also looked at him, wondering how Jack would be nice? Was he going to share some special treasure?

Jack grinned and faced the three people that others thought were his hostages. "Some of these statues contain magical items, and all of them are at least lv. 60, if not higher."

"Lv. 60!" Their hearts started pumping and their gazes returned to the statues they had overlooked.

"I'll let each of you choose a single item to keep, then I'll take the rest. Go ahead, choose your items." Jack motioned with his hands as if to give them permission.

"Don't mind if I do!" Flint bolted out of the fountain and toward a statue with a menacing-looking greatsword. "I want this one!"

The crazed berserker had already started trying to pull the sword out of the statue's hand when Jack said, "That's just a regular statue. That helmet, however, is a lv. 70 peak-tier piece of armor."

"Lv. 70! Peak-tier!"

Every word that came out of Jack's mouth startled them even further. "Lv. 70, I want it!"

Chuckling at the sight of Flint acting like a child on Christmas, he offered some more advice. "Wouldn't you rather have an item more fitted to you or your family? Like that war axe over there, or that long sword?"

"Longsword, where?!" Flint instantly forgot about that statue and dashed to the one Jack was pointing at. "You mean this longsword?"

"Yup, go ahead and wipe your hand against the blade. Then's you'll see that it's a true lv. 75 peak-tier weapon."

"Lv. 75 long sword?! It's mine!" With all his strength, Flint pulled and broke the statue's arms off as he finally got his sword. "Uhhh… sorry for breaking the statue…"

"Don't even worry about it, it's already served its purpose anyway." Jack was laughing and enjoying Flint's simple-minded antics. Looking at the other two, Jack asked, "And you two, which do you want?"

Tarnel looked at all the statues and finally shook his head. "I don't know. You should pick for me since you best understand what's what."

Hearing Tarnel's suggestion, Jack smiled and walked to a statue of a sorcerer.

When everyone saw Jack take not the weapon but the statue's robe, they were shocked. They wondered how they hadn't recognized a robe around one of the statue's earlier.

"Don't bother feeling stupid. This robe has a metallic quality aleady, so after being covered in dust and gravel it blended in with the statue," explained Jack, helping clear their confusion. "This is a lv. 75 dragon sorcerer's cloak. It greatly boosts the wearer's magic abilities, as well as their physical defense. It's also peak-tier, just like his longsword."

"Thank you, Jack!" Even though Tarnel knew that Jack would by far have the best harvest of treasures during this trip, Tarnel thought his struggle in the catacomb was well worth finding a legendary item! He had already forgiven Jack after Jack let him bathe in the fountain, now he was over the moon with joy. Finding a lv. 75 peak-tier item was a thousand times greater than anything he had expected to find.

Jack placed the dragon robe on the fountain's edge, that way Tarnel could grab it easily after finishing his healing process. "So, which one do you want, Keela?"

She looked pensive while inspecting the many statues many times over. Keela kept looking and thinking until she shook her head. "I don't want any of these."

"HUH?!" All three men were taken aback by her words. Even Flint, who was swinging his new treasure around like a madman, stopped and looked at her funny.

"What do you mean?" asked Jack.

"The only item I want is Ponlinne's staff. Would you please allow me to have it?" Bowing to Jack, Keela humbled herself and continued to explain, "According to our history, the Pon Family are descendents of Ponlinne, that's why we took the name Pon. Plus, Ponlinne was a powerful Cleric, the most powerful in Ancient Kartonia, so his staff should be the best weapon for my family of clerics."

"Hmm…" Jack scratched his head, unsure of what to do. Though there was still a handful of peak-tier items, none of those items were lv. 85. The best was lv. 75, like the items the other two had chosen.

"Please, Jack, I'll do anything! I'd even agree to marry you if my family could have such a treasure."

"What?!"Again, the others were stunned by Keela's actions.

Jack looked at her and couldn't contain his shock. "You'd be willing to marry an old man like me just for some old staff? Your family may never be strong enough to use it. They'd probably just hang it up as their greatest family heirloom. Why give yourself up when you're such a stunning young lady?"

Even if Jack didn't want to admit it, his heart twitched when he heard her offer. All of a sudden, he felt like Daruun may have been right to say that Jack and Slivia hadn't yet fallen in love.

"We all know that you're not who you say you are, so don't give me that excuse. Am I not pretty enough? Is my beauty not worth "some old staff?"" 

Turning his own words against him, Jack felt somewhat helpless in front of Keela.

"I'll tell you why I'm hesitant. It's because Ponlinne's staff is stronger and more valueable than all of these remaining weapons combined," stated Jack.

Keela, Tarnel, and Flint had thought that they couldn't be any more surprised then they already were. However, Jack's statement about the value of Ponlinne's staff proved them wrong as all of there jaws went slack.

Chapter end