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.