The Achievement Junkie

Chapter 143 Complications at the Border

Morning came slowly for Jack and his small party. They stayed at a simple inn to avoid any unwanted attention. As the sun rose, they were already on the streets searching for a caravan to join.

It wasn’t hard to find a merchant willing to give them passage for a fee. Considering that Keela was pretending to be gravely ill to cover her face, it was quite a sum that they had to pay, but it was part of the plan.

The merchant offered to lower it if Rydel took a role as a guard, but he was too worried about his sick daughter to handle guard duty.

All three were cooped up in a covered wagon together with bundles of merchandise. In an hour, they would have crossed the Zuran-Reinolt border and be able to fly the rest of the way.

With their change of plans, they were cutting it very close to their deadline.

Sadly, other than by Rydel’s roc, there was no other way for people from Reinolt City to reach the border, if not, then Zariff and Maynard would have rushed there overnight. Instead, the three of them would have to hope for the best.

Jack had started to wonder what else might go wrong. If he could prevent such issues from happening, then he’d be able to change his fate and Slivia’s.

"Jack, calm down already. If we make it, then we’ll make it. If not, you said you were already aware of our chance of failure," stated Rydel in a hushed tone. They made sure to speak quietly while in the caravan.

Not satisfied with his chances, Jack ignored Rydel and kept trying to think of possible ways to speed up the journey.

"Umm, are you okay, Jack?" asked Keela. It was easy for her to sense that Jack didn’t have the calm and confident attitude he showed in the catacomb.

"I’m fine, I just wish that we could go faster." Not wanting to talk, Jack leaned back and closed his eyes.

Rydel and Keela both started to worry about him, but they couldn’t do anything. So, in the meantime, Keela and Rydel talked about everything that was happening in the Reinolt Kingdom.

Also, Rydel started to explain what the Adventurers Association was and what it stood for. Since Keela was raised in the Zuran Empire, she had only heard about the Adventurers Association from passing stories. Now that she would be officially joining Jack’s party, it was important for her to become an association member and learn about her future role in the team.

Keela was lv. 27, but Jack was able to overpower because she was a pure cleric and could only cast healing spells. Of course, she was extremely talented at those and was a perfect fit in their party dynamic.

’Jack, calm down.’ Bowzer popped out of Jack’s cloak and started rubbing his soft fur all over Jack.

’I’m fine Bowzer, why don’t you play with Keela. She still has to get used to you, okay?’

The fox pup frowned but he nodded. ’Okay.’

As Bowzer crawled into Keela’s arms and let her pet his fur, Jack was trying to find ways to distract himself.

Then he remembered about all the loot from Ponlinne’s tomb. Not wanting to whip out valuable items in such a place, he went to his skill list first and purchased Eagle Eye. It was too good a skill to pass up.

Then he went to his achievement list and claimed his latest reward.

[When everyone knows your name, but not your face: claimed]

[Because well-known in a country using your real name but not your face. Reward: 20 skill points.]

After buying Eagle Eye, Jack was left with thirty-five skill points, which he decided to save for a rainy day.

Next, Jack inspected Ponlinne’s activity log. Since he had more time to kill than he wanted, he figured that he might as well use it.

First, Jack confirmed that Ponlinne had managed to reach lv. 87. It was true! Jack had no clue how considering the level cap in "A Hero’s Tale," but it had happened.

Second, Jack started inspecting the activity log for everything involving the catacomb. Like he had guessed, it was the same ancient crypt that Jack had visited in-game. However, according to Ponlinne, it had changed.

The crypt that Jack knew was for low-level grinding where the lower you went, the stronger the undead. It ranged from lv. 15 to lv. 35.

Ponlinne, in some diary entries, mentioned that the crypt had started to change after the Holy War ended. It had started to spawn monsters of all levels, but only in accordance with whoever was inside the crypt.

He had sent a party of lv. 20’s inside and they returned after facing creatures as strong as lv. 29. Yet, whenever Ponlinne entered, he had to face lv. 80’s and had once seen a lv. 88 creature before he ran away.

Jack had guessed that Ponlinne stayed near that crypt to try and grind to level up. If there was a new patch or expansion that raised the level cap, then that would explain why Ponlinne made his home there. Where else would a cleric be able to solo grind other than facing strong undead creatures?

Checking information about his death, Jack discovered that Ponlinne had died against a lv. 89 lich king. Though Ponlinne was a powerful wielder of holy magic, the lich king was too much and caused his death.

Ponlinne had even tried to run away from the battle, but the lich king made it impossible. The moment the lich king had caught him in its sights, it chased Ponlinne until he was dead.

"That’s one way to go. At least he was still only a player at the time."

Jack started to think about what he would’ve done if he were stuck in a place like that. It wouldn’t be easy, but Jack thought he would at least enjoy the thrill while he could.

Also, Jack wondered what had caused the crypt to change. Ponlinne had tried to investigate, but he wasn’t successful. He did, however, discover some rather interesting information about the crypt.

Depending on who was inside the crypt, the layout would change. The higher someone’s level was, the deeper the crypt went. According to Ponlinne, the lich king was the final monster at the very bottom of the crypt. Behind the lich king’s tomb, there were closed doors. Had Ponlinne succeded, he thought those doors would open to reveal the real secrets of the crypt. Sadly, he failed against the final monster, even with his holy magic being super effective against undead.

Just then, a distant shout rang out. "Halt!"

The wagon came to a gradual stop and the sounds of horses trotting also stopped. Against Jack’s wishes, the entire caravan had stopped.

Unhappy with the sudden development, Jack grunted and exited the wagon in search of the merchant.

"Excuse me, but what’s going on?" asked Jack.

The merchant shrugged, "Nothing, the border patrol is just backed up. Apparently they’re being extra cautious today, something about a noblewoman being kidnapped by a middle-aged man on a bird. Seriously, these stories just keep getting weirder and weirder.

"Tell me about it," sighed Jack. "Any idea how long it’ll be?"

"There’s a huge pile-up, so we’ll probably be adding at least another half a day to our trip, maybe even a full day. I’m sorry for the inconvenience."

Squinting at the many wagons ahead of them in line, Jack shrugged his shoulders and hid his anger. "I guess that’s just the way it is. Hopefully, this will blow over quickly. Thank you."

He walked back to the wagon and informed Rydel and Keela of the news.

"Wow, this makes things more difficult. We should be fine, but it’ll definitely take longer." Suddenly, Rydel looked more concerned. "Jack, you know what this means, right?"

Jack didn’t respond, but both Rydel and Jack could see the pain in his eyes.

"Everything’s going to be okay, Jack, really. It’s just going to take some more time, that’s all." Keela did her best to try and comfort Jack. Little did she know, she made it worse.

Seeing Jack like that, Rydel added, "Hey Jack, don’t try anything funny, no matter what! If we’re caught, they have plenty of people over lv. 30. Even with your fox, there’s no guarantee that we could escape through a fight. And don’t try and blame her either, This would’ve happened either way, and you know that deep down."

Not wanting to accept reality, Jack’s eyes started to water. With all his heart, he wanted so much to dash out and force his way into Reinolt, but Rydel was right.

There was no chance of them breaking through the border with only those him, Rydel, and Bowzer attacking. Plus, they would have to protect Keela, which would be next to impossible.

The Zuran Empire was an ancient empire that had survived for a long time. Though the Zuran Empire was being held off thanks to a powerful expert in Reinolt, the empire’s overall strength was head and shoulders higher above Reinolt’s. All the guard captains were at least lv. 30 and they could never guess how many lv. 30’s they would have to face to breach the border.

Against all of Jack’s hopes, wishes, and plans, he was forced to quietly wait in a wagon for his chance to peacefully cross the border, effectively failing to save Slivia.