The Achievement Junkie - 558 Jack vs Halmu

“Not interested,” Jack answered bluntly. “I don’t care what you or Gem Inc can offer me. I doubt they could offer me what Daruun has, or even imagine what Daruun has offered me.”

Not taking any chances, Halmut waved his hand and cast silence around them. “So you do know about them… All the more reason to join me! Jack, you don’t know what Gem can offer you. This planet is only a stepping stone. If you continue, then you’ll only be–”

“Playing into Daruun’s plans?” Jack finished Halmut’s statement. “And what’s wrong with that? Why go against him when he gives me more than I ask for? If anything, why should I trust an organization that drugs up its members to give them momentary strength in exchange for loyalty? Why should I ruin my potential like that?”

“You know nothing of strength!” Halmut roared, squinting his eyes. “Should you meet them, then you’ll understand.”

“Meet who? Gem Inc or Jewel?”

Startled, Halmut went wide-eyed. “You… you know about Jewel?”

“You know about it too? You’re more involved than I gave you credit,” chuckled Jack. “So, are you ready to fight now or do you have any more offers for me?”

“I would prefer to not waste your potential, Jack. It would be better if–”

“If you would just give up and confess everything to Daruun,” admitted Jack. “Then you still might get lucky and avoid death. He’s a lot nicer than you give him credit.”

Halmut sighed and shook his head slowly. “I guess that’s enough talk… You have until I silence you to surrender and join me. I respect your strength and would rather have you as a partner. Under the right circumstances, I may even allow you to form a seal with me. Wouldn’t that be worth your allegiance?”

“Nah! I prefer Spectral Dragon’s personally. Their bloodline is much deeper than yours, trust me.”

“Then just die!”

An explosion of warring energies encircled both combatants as they collided, testing their claws and physical prowess against one another.

Jack was the first to be thrown out of the explosion, but he showed no signs of serious damage.

When the explosion subsided along with the shattered silence spell, Halmut was left standing in the air. “You’re good… What level are you?”

“Tell me how you countered me. Then I’ll tell you more about me,” replied Jack, refusing to giveaway free information.

“You’re not lv. 90, that’s for sure… But how did you advance so quickly upon ascension? What did Daruun do to help you cheat?”

“More than you could ever know!” Jack laughed.

“Oh… Not only are so sturdy, but you heal also?” Halmut noticed the minor burns on Jack’s exoskeleton vanishing under the black flames.

“How can I get burned? Do you see these flames? I know you felt them.” Pointing at Halmut’s side, Jack added, “We both heal and we both pack a punch. But what happens when we both go all out?”

The black flame body condensed onto Jack’s claws. Spatial energy gathered into his jaws. Jack threw a barrage of Hell Flares while releasing his new Spectral Breath skill for the first time.

“Fascinating.” Halmut was unperturbed but impressed. He used his own breath to counter the attacks, countering and overpowering the attacks. “You’ll have to try harder than that.”

The Sun Dragon rushed Jack again but Jack vanished from where he stood, appearing a few dozen meters away. This repeated a few times as Halmut gained more speed and used lighting and wind to boost his acceleration drastically.

Jack, on the other hand, focused purely on evasion while checking his newest notifications that could change everything.

After testing his initial attacks against Halmut, Jack’s beliefs were confirmed. Jack was still much too weak to deal with the Sun Dragon in a head-on fight. But the ability to combine skills was a game-changer. With a feature like that, Jack’s opportunities to grow stronger had infinitely grown.

He didn’t want to spend more money unnecessarily, but the failed attempt to cripple Halmut made it necessary to have another powerful one-star skill. And judging by the cost, Jack assumed that he could possibly create one.

Jack agreed to the tree thousand skill point price tag and allowed his system to work its magic.

[Processing time: 1 minute]

A bit bummed by the delay, Jack refocused on the match. As Halmut got more serious with each of Jack’s many dodges, Jack couldn’t afford to divert any attention elsewhere.