41 A Hidden Tomb? (1/2)

[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.'