The Achievement Junkie 58 What's Phase Three?

[Find and enter a temple of Sterfen, the god of secrecy. Reward: varies on the party's interactions with the temple.]

Jack was intrigued to find an interesting, new achievement. Multiple things were running through his mind at the speed of light.

To find a blessed item and verify the existence of an ancient god's temple was equivalent to discovering a new island off the coast. This news would attract global attention.

There were still some temples of Halmut among the many capital cities across Kartonia. However, they were controlled and regulated by the Religious Council and Jack had found their new customs to be pitiful. Any blessing offered to items or adventurers was only a fraction of the basic blessings he knew in-game, and they were only given to devote followers.

What excited Jack was the particular god they needed to find. Sterfen, the god of secrecy, was previously one of the seven neutral gods that had disappeared from modern history. It wasn't the same god he had pledged to as a gamer, but Jack was sure that a certain hunter he knew would benefit greatly from pledging to such an entity. And that would also greatly benefit Jack by default.

Another interesting part of the achievement was the reward. That was the first time Jack's party as a whole would be able to affect an achievement directly. It implied that anyone in the party would be able to interact or not interact with the temple. And if normal adventurers like Rydel and Maynard could gain blessings directly from a god, like ancient heroes and others discovered the truth, wouldn't Jack's party become the envy of the continent?

"Hey, Jack…"

A whisper sounded in Jack's ear, causing him to open his eyes and face Brunar with an annoyed expression. "Can I help you?"

"Is it true what you said, about the blessings of the gods?" asked Brunar is a gentle, serious tone.

"Do I have reason to lie?"

"I don't think you're lying, but are you certain that you're right?" Brunar questioned further.

"Hmm…" Jack slowly blinked and leaned in closely. "There's a lot of things I'm certain of and there's a lot of things that you would never believe, especially if I described them in detail."

Brunar was taken aback by Jack's answer, finding that hard to believe, but Jack continued, "I can tell you that pledging to a god directly can be more beneficial than you can imagine. Also, there are more gods than you realize, and that bracer is proof."

"What do you mean?"

"That resplendent bracer has Sterfen's blessing. It's only at the basic level, but you can already see how powerful such an item is. It's because of that bracer that Slivia was captured so easily and it will also be key for our success in taking the goblin city," explained Jack.

"Who's Sterfen?" asked Brunar, too caught up on the unfamiliar name to digest everything else.

"Sterfen was the god of secrecy and was one of the seven powerful neutral gods in ancient Kartonia."

"Neutral gods? I've never heard of those?" Brunar's confusion slowly set in with each question.

"That's cause they didn't participate in the war of the gods and were lost to history, according to my knowledge," answered Jack. "You can believe what you want, but I know for a fact that Sterfen was the god who blessed that bracer. And no, I'm not willing to let a priest verify the blessing."

Brunar was about to ask that when his idea was shot down before conception, removing the only way to prove Jack's reasoning in Brunar's eyes. "Then… how do I know what you're saying is true?"

Jack chuckled, "You'll have to take my word for it."

Taking his time to think before responding, Brunar scratched his head and looked intently at the cave floor between him and Jack. "So, if I were to believe in everything you've said, what would that mean for me exactly?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Master already told me that after this mission he won't be partying with me anymore, then he said he'd be partying with you for who knows how long. You told him more than you're telling me right now, right?" asked Brunar.

"Yeah, so what?" Jack answered openly, not caring to offend.

"So, why not tell me the same stuff?" pled Brunar. "I'm his number one disciple and you said he vouched for me, so why not trust me?"

"I do trust you, enough to tell you this much. At first, I didn't trust you farther than I could throw you," reasoned Jack. "You had your chance to get on my good side back then, but you failed horribly, we both know that. Now, you'll have to earn that trust."

Brunar was going to interject but he couldn't disagree about their first interaction. He understood that he had acted wrongly out of pride and jealousy, but Brunar felt that he deserved to be prideful and wouldn't step down so easily.

"I've told you everything I'm willing to say for now. If you want more, then have faith in what I say and the plans I make. Any doubt you show me will prove I was right to not trust you." Jack shrugged and stared off into the distance, showing that he wasn't too interested in Brunar personally.

No further conversation was made as they both looked separate ways. Brunar pondered Jack's words and the events that Jack had caused or triggered within the mine. Finding a rare item was one thing but finding the tomb of an ancient hero was unheard of. Or Jack's knowledge about the strange Nightmare Lilies, that were rarely found in modern Kartonia. And then there was the Hell-flame Fox with a mutual seal on top of all that.

The young samurai was nearing a mental crossroads that would affect his life forever. Choosing to keep his former outlook on the world or following the absurd and unprecedented thoughts of a newly summoned hero.

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Jack was unaffected by the previous conversation, returning to think about the new achievement. It was clear to Jack that this achievement would take him a long while to accomplish.

There were no clues about a location so he would have to search and investigate this himself. Lucky for him, he had access to the greatest database of knowledge on ancient Kartonia the world over, his own brain.

Combing over his past experiences, Jack remembered the location of a couple of temples. The problem with that was the distance; they'd have to travel across three countries to maybe find an ancient temple's ruins.

Time quickly passed as Troni was the first one to pass out, followed quickly by Brunar. Jack was teetering near the edge of consciousness when Maynard asked him a question, "What are ya doing for phase three?"

Rubbing some exhaustion from his eyes, Jack answered, "Just the usual infiltration of the palace and extraction of the survivors. You know how that goes."

"Before, ya mentioned something about me seeing your signal and going all out. What should I be looking for?" asked Maynard.

"Oh, that?" Jack smiled as he remembered. "I've made a few tweaks from my original plans for phase three, but I'm excited to see my distraction go into play."

"Distraction?"

"The appearance of a Hell-flame Fox is seen as an unstoppable natural disaster, right?"

Maynard joined Jack in smiling and asked, "Hmm… But what about Bowser? How long can he hold that form?"

"That's the thing. What's scarier; a Hell-flame Fox that approaches the city to wreak havoc or a Hell-flame Fox that appears and disappears throughout the city at random?"

"That might be the most frightening distraction I've ever heard of." Maynard knew that Bowser was low leveled but there was something about the fox that would still send shivers down Maynard's spine.

Similar to Jack, Maynard wasn't able to sense Bowser's level. Maynard didn't know how that was possible, but he understood one thing. The thought of a Hell-flame Fox, a creature that haunts legends, appearing out of nowhere with an undecipherable level would strike terror in the hearts of any adventurer.

And little did Maynard know that Jack had planned it even further. The reason Jack needed that resplendent bracer was for both Bowser and himself.

Jack's companion sharing skill would allow him to hide Bowser in his normal form as the fox dashed and relocated elsewhere. Hiding Bowser's flame body was impossible because it was considered an attack or an enraged state, but a small, speedy fox would easily slip past common goblins with invisibility.

Since phase one would attract the guards and most of the attention, Jack was betting that the goblins remaining in the city were generally the weakest. And once there was a commotion in the palace from phase two, who would be left to stop a rampaging Hell-flame Fox in the middle of the city?

Chapter end