Capítulo 40: Abandoned Goblin Settlements
Jack did his best to contain his excitement and not draw attention. He smiled briefly and moved forward with the party. Under Rydel's guidance, they went deeper into the dark caverns. Troni, Slivia, and Jack all held up torches, bathing the cave wall in warm light.
Rydel was especially sharp, making full use of his eagle eye ability. "We're nearing the first goblin settlement. Be careful, just in case some goblins were left behind."
Everyone followed closely, peeking around every corner they passed. Just like Rydel had said, it didn't take long for them to see the settlement in the distance.
It was abandoned. There was a short, spiked fence surrounding the settlement, yet parts had been trampled and destroyed. The goblins homes were made of hardened mud and had dark red highlights across the surface; Jack knew from the lore that cave goblins made their concrete-like mud from a mixture of monster blood and ground stone from the cave walls.
"Search for anything unusual and bring what you find here, be it items, weapons, remains, or anything," Rydel commanded, getting everyone to split up and search the small settlement, no larger than one hundred meters in diameter.
Everyone combed through the short, square-shaped huts and found ashes covering the floors as if everything inside had been burned and destroyed. In the entire settlement, they only found burnt knife blades and small bones amidst the ashes.
Jack sighed, disappointed in their findings. The goblins were more careful than they had anticipated, eliminating everything that might have helped prospective invaders and leaving nothing behind.
'Cheer up, we'll find something for ya soon enough.' Maynard tried to raise Jack's spirits.
Rydel quietly nodded. 'There are three more settlements on this level, let's hurry up and investigate them.'
When Rydel ordered the party towards the next settlement, Brunar complained about them wasting too much time and effort. Even Slivia was against the thought, wanting to find her old party as soon as possible. Jack and Troni both spoke up and defended Rydel's orders, swaying Slivia and forcing Brunar to participate in the settlement searches.
It took the entire day to explore the first level and rummage through the remains of each settlement. Like the first, the fence was trampled and everything inside the mud huts was burned to ash. Also, like the first, there was nothing of value in any of the settlements.
"We'll camp in this settlement for the night. Clear out a hut and feel free to have a fire for the night, cause once we enter the second level, we won't even light a torch." Rydel's emotionless statement let the party relax until they heard the final piece of information.
"What do you mean?" asked Brunar.
"Exactly that, there will be no fires on the second or third levels," repeated Rydel, looking down on Brunar for talking back.
Maynard explained, "Cave goblins are very strange creatures, they're about half our size yet are equal to us in strength. They're eyesight in impeccable, sensing heat and not light. On the first floor, it doesn't matter too much because the first level doesn't have any real threats. But every level deeper contains stronger and more threatening monsters, many of which sense heat light the cave goblins."
Brunar was silent as he started to piece everything together. "But if we're way stronger than them, we shouldn't have to—"
"You must've leveled up from basic rescue and escort quests. You can't even understand this much?" Jack chimed in, putting a frown of Brunar's face. "Not every monster is going to walk up to us and wait for us to kill it. Many are secretive, sometimes waiting to poison you while you sleep. Maynard and Rydel have sharp enough senses to avoid this, but what about the rest of us? We'd be on death's door by the time either of them killed the monster responsible. And that's just one possibility."
Not knowing how to respond, Brunar coughed, "Then what do you suggest we use to light the way?"
A small gem was thrown to each member of the party and Maynard answered, "That's a kari crystal, it'll light up when you equip it to ya. They can be worn as necklaces, bracelets, anything."
Jack was speechless; kari crystals were only found in lv. 30 mines and were very expensive. Maynard having so many showed Jack two things. First, Maynard had spent a lot of time grinding after reaching level thirty and wasn't like the average adventurer that slows down after lv. 30. Second, it showed that Maynard wasn't an avid trader or interested in money like Rydel; otherwise, he would have sold the surplus and made a killing. Smiling, Jack was pleased to better understand his new follower's personality.
"If there's nothing else, then I'm off to bed. Night everyone," said Jack, ducking his head to enter the nearest mud hut.
Not bothering with the rest, Rydel did the same. Slivia shrugged and examined the kari crystal, sifting through many ideas of simple accessories she could craft from it. Troni nodded, following the party captain's lead and secluding himself for the night.
Brunar hesitated before he called out to his master, stopping Maynard from escaping a conversation. "Master, please let me speak with you about some things."
"Very well, just make it fast," said Maynard, suppressing a yawn.
"Has something happened between you and that new hero?" Brunar tried his best to speak respectfully about Jack in front of Maynard, knowing that his master might discipline him if he didn't.
Maynard's face twitched, not expecting such a question. He pondered for a moment before answering, "Brunar, it's about time for you to begin journeying on your own. There's not much else I can teach you and you'll catch up to me soon enough, so I see no other reason for you to keep following me."
Baffled by Maynard's statement Brunar asked, "What does that have to do with this?"
"I'll be honest with ya. After this mission, I'll start journeying with Jack. I'm not sure how long this will last, but I'm certain it will be for a significant period," stated Maynard.
"Huh!?" Brunar shouted in response, catching Slivia's attention because she had yet to hide away in a hut.
"Like I said, I'll be journeying with him for a while." Maynard shrugged casually, not wanting to explain anything further.
"But, but…" Brunar had no way of understanding how great the benefits of following Jack were and no one was willing to tell him due to his distrust in Jack. The young samurai quietly muttered something while containing his rage, "What did he offer you? He must have some treasure you're after… If so, then why not just take it from him? He's too low leveled to stop you."
Maynard frowned deeply. Not only was he mad that his disciple wouldn't respect Jack, but his proposal of extortion was also ugly in Maynard's eyes. "Brunar…"
Setting his spite aside, Brunar started to clear his head when a hand struck his face. It wasn't strong enough to fling him through the air, but it left a pure red handprint on Brunar's right cheek and made sure that Slivia could hear it. Maynard continued, "A samurai must never act such a way, at least no samurai I call my disciple."
Hearing Maynard's words felt like being struck by lightning to Brunar. When his master had become more lenient with him after reaching lv. 20, Brunar had begun to have more freedom to act alone. While in this position and having some minor fame within the association, he had found many ways of extorting others, some instances being minor and others being major offenses to his master's humble teachings. This was the first time he had let any information about that slip in front of his master.
"Master, I apologize for such unrighteous thoughts. Please, forgive my unruliness," begged Brunar while kowtowing. He understood how straightforward his master was and his quickness in delivering judgment. Trying to retain his position as the number one disciple, he fell back into the act of playing nice.
Squinting heavily, Maynard's expression was a little ugly. "Watch your words and actions. You know better than others, so act better than others."
"Yessir!"
"I've already told you my answer, now get some sleep." Maynard didn't look back to his bowing disciple as he entered a hut. No matter how he tried, he couldn't shake the feeling that Brunar had been playing him the whole time. However, he quickly destroyed that thought, sure of that he was wrong based on all the time and experiences the two had shared as master and disciple.
Jack was in his hut with a small fire to the side near a wall. He had pushed most of the ash outside, leaving him a small space just big enough to lay down. Above the flame was some unihorn rib meat on a tall skewer, which was leaning against the wall for leverage. Bowser was gnawing on the small bones from the monster remains in the ashes, enjoying the new taste he discovered.
Sighing, Jack stared at his achievement screen and its most recent update.
[Find the tomb: in progress]
[Find the tomb of G0blin_Sl4yer within the second level of the azure mine. Reward: 18 skill points, access to his saved data.]
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TheSilverQuill
TheSilverQuill Again, sorry for the late updates. I'll have to take a break soon for church reasons but I'll be dropping chapters throughout the day. Thanks for reading, commenting, voting, and reviewing! 2 more reviews and we'll have an official rating, so please leave one behind.
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Capítulo 41: A Hidden Tomb?
[Find the tomb: in progress]
[Find the tomb of G0blin_Sl4yer within the second level of the azure mine. Reward: 18 skill points, access to his saved data.]
Jack was taken aback as he twirled a certain dagger in his hands which Bowser had found. It was lv. 15 and was far more ornate than the typical low leveled dagger. If it were to be assessed by a weaponsmith, it would fall under the rare category due to its material and ability.
It was crafted using goblin bone and a rare goblin core, an item that only appears once for every thousand goblins and it gave the weapon an additional 15% crit chance against goblins.
In "A Hero's Tale" this would barely qualify as a rare weapon and wasn't too difficult to get. There were five levels of weapons: common, uncommon, rare, legendary, and mythic. From his conversations with Zarris, Jack learned that there are now only four levels of items: low-tier, mid-tier, high-tier, and peak-tier. Though the levels only received new names, mythic level items had become nonexistent and entirely removed from the grading system over time.
Undecided what to do with it, Jack stored the knife and sighed to himself. Thinking it over, Jack imagined that the second floor would be larger than the first like most mines in-game. If that were true, finding the hidden tomb would be difficult to do within his remaining two days with the weathered jade active.
But if he could find this cave, it might be worth more than the experience he gained from the weathered jade. Jack had yet to find an ancient hero's tomb and he had no clue what he could gain from entering one. What he wanted was the saved data because it was completely unknown and impossible to guess why it was so valuable until he had earned it.
'What wrong?' asked Bowser.
'Thanks to this, I know that there's a hidden tomb on the second level, but I have no way to find it without delaying the plan.' Jack wracked his brain for a solution.
'Why no find tomb first?' asked Bowser, ignorant as ever.
Jack didn't know whether to laugh or cry at Bowser. 'Why would it be so easy? The next level will be almost twice as big as this place, finding the way to the third level will be easy but not finding a hidden tomb. If it were so easy to find, why hasn't anyone else found it?'
Bowser scratched behind his ears and answered, 'Why so hard? Just follow scent.'
Suddenly Jack's eyes shot wide open as he stared at the confused Bowser. 'Bowser, you mean you can still track this thing's scent?'
Nodding his head and walking closer to take a whiff, Bowser replied, 'Yeah, that problem?'
Laughter rang out across the abandoned huts, surprising the entire party. While Slivia, Troni, and Brunar peeked out of their huts, Rydel and Maynard heard a voice in their heads. 'There's been a change of plans. Instead of hurrying to the third floor and scoping out the third level the night before, we need to find something on the second level.'
'What are you talking about, kid?' asked Rydel.
'Meet me outside the trampled fence,' said Jack as he exited his hut. Curious what was so important, Rydel and Maynard did the same.
'So, did ya find something after all?' asked Maynard.
'Yup,' said Jack, pulling out the dagger. 'This is a weapon crafted by an ancient hero and that hero's tomb is on the second level.'
Struggling to believe Jack, the two adventurers blinked and examined the dagger carefully. Rydel stated, 'This is a high-tier weapon, but how do you know it belonged to an ancient hero? Let me guess, it was an achievement?'
When Jack smiled, Maynard did the same and said, 'Very well, tomorrow we find this hidden tomb. Any idea where it is?'
'Nope.' Shaking his head with a fat smile, Rydel and Maynard were perplexed. Jack continued, 'I don't have a clue, but Bowser does. He's the one who found the dagger in the first place. I guess he must've sniffed it out.'
'I guess ancient beasts really can sniff out treasure,' joked Rydel.
'Maybe, all I know is that tomorrow we follow Bowser's orders. I'll relay them to the both of you, so make sure to follow and keep suspicion down. If the other's found out about there being a hidden tomb, who knows what they might do,' argued Jack.
Maynard's face twitched. Naturally, he wanted to fill in his disciples, but he understood that Brunar wasn't on good terms with Jack. In the back of his head, he still had that feeling of distrust towards Brunar, despite suppressing and ignoring that feeling.
Rydel spoke up, 'Why can't we tell them? They're Maynard's disciples and I think they have a right to know about it, at least if Maynard thinks so.'
Turning to Maynard, Jack shrugged his shoulders. He didn't like Brunar, but he was Maynard's top disciple and had worked hard to prove himself. If Maynard felt that they could trust them, Jack understood that Maynard's opinion was most likely more correct.
Hesitant to decide, Maynard finally took a deep breath and said, 'I think we can trust them. What about that girl?'
'I think she's fine. She understands that she's the least influential person here and is too timid to act out on her own,' explained Rydel. 'In that case, call everyone over and explain it to them.'
'I'll leave that up to Maynard since they are his disciples,' said Jack.
Not wanting to be reminded, Maynard yelled out, "Hey, everyone come here!"
The two young samurai scratched their heads as they neared the fence while Slivia trotted over with a big smile on her face. Unsure about her burst of energy, Jack asked, "What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing just finished prepping for tomorrow." She spoke with her hands, revealing a newly fashioned wristband with a crystal at its center.
Jack blinked a few times, glancing over the new accessory without any change of emotion, seeing it as common or normal. He said nothing and only chuckled at her happy-go-lucky attitude.
"Nice wristband." Troni's quiet compliment crept into their conversation.
Slivia was surprised to hear the compliment come from someone else, but she giggled all the same. "Thanks, I just made it."
"Now that everyone's here, let me talk to ya." Maynard began to speak, demanding everyone's attention. "There's been a change in plans. Tomorrow, we'll focus on searching for something hidden on the second level." Still, Maynard was apprehensive to admit the news to everyone, in particular, his top disciple.
"What's that? It had better be good," stated Brunar, wanting an explanation.
Maynard cleared his throat with a cough before he resumed. "Thanks to Jack and his beast companion, we've discovered that an ancient hero's tomb is hidden somewhere on the second level."
"Seriously!?" Brunar yelled out of reflex. Troni was speechless and Slivia covered her mouth in shock. Determined to learn more, Brunar asked, "How'd you discover that? And what's in the tomb?"
"As far as discovering the tomb's existence, I have my ways as a summoned hero," answered Jack. "I'm not certain what's inside, but it's bound to be good if it's an ancient tomb."
Drifting into daydreams, Brunar was excited to get his hands on something from the ancient tomb. He plotted with himself, wanting to make sure he left with the best item so Jack would never be able to pass him. Assuming that the ancient hero's level was extremely high, everyone grew excited fast. Only Jack had some understanding that this G0blin_Sl4yer was most likely under lv. 20. If not, why would they perish in low leveled mine?
"Then it's agreed, tomorrow we follow Jack in search of the tomb. Any objections?" Without a single objection, Rydel continued. "Good, now go get some sleep while us three discuss things a little longer."
Reluctant to be outshined again, Brunar tried to say something before Maynard and Rydel turned their backs to him, facing Jack directly. Taking the hint, Brunar sucked it up and dashed back into his hut.
'Are you sure about him?' Jack's question was directed to Maynard with Rydel awaiting a reply.
'This is fine, there won't be any issues,' answered Maynard. 'Anyways, we've got a long way to go tomorrow, we'll have to book it double time. We'll need all the time we can get tomorrow, it's not like after we find this thing all we have to do is knock.'
Jack laughed, 'Of course it won't be that easy. To be honest, I have no clue how we can enter it.'
Rydel sighed, "Well, that's a problem we'll have to face when we get that far. For now, get some sleep, okay?'
'You got it, captain.' Jack playfully saluted and walked back to the sleeping Bowser in his temporary lodging.
Rydel glanced at Maynard as he made his way to his hut. "I hope you don't regret this. By the look on your face, you might."
Not staying any longer, Maynard ran into his hut and they all drifted to sleep as time passed by.
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TheSilverQuill
TheSilverQuill
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