Man Made God 001

by Brandon Varnell

  Special ability: Sentient Growth

  Item Name: Steel Greaves

  Item Type: Armor

  Grade: Medium

  Use requirements: can be equipped by a Warrior level 5 and above

  Description: Well-made greaves that protect a warrior’s feet.

  Abilities: Physical Defense+40

  Item Name: Enchanted Steel Armor

  Item Type: Armor

  Grade: Medium

  Use requirements: Can be equipped by Warriors level 5 and above

  Description: An enchanted steel chest plate. Grants increased defense.

  Abilities: Physical Defense+25; +5% resistance to slashing, blunt, and piercing damage

  The [Rusted Spear] was the weapon now equipped. The [greater broadsword] he had equipped previously, which granted him +100 to his Physical Attack, was nowhere to be seen. Not only did this drop his entire Physical Attack stat by +100, but the [Rusted Spear] only offered a +10 to his Strength and Physical Attack, meaning instead of having a Physical Attack of +310 like he should have, he only had +240 because of his recent level up.

  “No, no, no, no!” Adam shouted. “What the hell?! I don’t want to equip this thing! Unequip! Unequip!”

  Adam tried to unequip the weapon in his hand, but no matter what he did, the [Rusted Spear] remained locked firmly in his equipped status screen. Not even throwing it away worked. Every time he tried to throw it away, he would get an error message that said this course of action was impossible.

  In other words, this piece of shit weapon was here to stay.

  Titania

  Adam did not know what to think. He now had a weapon that couldn’t be unequipped and was incomparably terrible compared to his previous equipment. He couldn’t toss it, sell it, or trade it away. He was stuck with it, and because he was stuck with it, he could no longer equip any other weapon.

  What kind of terrible in-game mechanic was this?!

  Because he didn’t know what to think, he decided to just stop thinking entirely. Adam glanced at the rusty spear in his hand one last time, and then looked at the door on the other end. He hoped it would lead out. With everything that had happened, he no longer had any desire to remain in this dungeon.

  The door was unlocked. As he grasped the handle, an oddly cool and refreshing sensation came over him, startling Adam a great deal. He shoved his shock to the back of his mind and opened the door.

  On the other side of the door was a room, and not just any room. A soft rug sat in the middle of the room, made from a fabric that looked incomparably soft and had nature-esque designs stitched into it. To his left was a dresser. On his right was a bed. Both the dresser and bed looked like they were made from expensive wood. The rosy hue of the wood went well with the rug on the floor and the tapestries hanging from the ceiling, which contained the silhouette of a woman with wings. Everything about this place screamed posh and luxurious. There was just one aspect about this place that made him blink twice.

  Everything was about four or five times smaller than they should have been. It was like someone had placed all of these in a shrinking machine, or like it was a doll house made for a little girl to play with her dolls.

  As he walked further into the room, turning his head curiously to look at everything, a soft groan made him snap his attention toward the bed. There was a lump underneath the covers. It was wiggling. As he moved closer, the lump shifted some more, the covers fell away, and Adam became stunned.

  A beautiful girl sat up in bed, yawning as she stretched her hands above her head.

  The first thing most people should have noticed about this girl was her otherworldly beauty. Her skin was a soft peach color, perfect and unblemished, pliant and tender. It made Adam want to reach out and pinch her cheeks. It gave her a youthful look that made it hard to judge her age. She had a face like an angel, with perfectly symmetrical features that could only be created inside of a video game. Her body’s proportions were likewise impossible in real life. Large breast. A small waist. A perfect bust to hip ratio.

  Even Fayte did not have a figure like this woman did.

  The second thing people should have noticed was probably her clothes. They were light and airy. The greens of her dress was very earthy and looked subdued on her beautiful figure. A slit ran up one side, showing off an expansive amount of her gorgeous leg. There was an odd sheer material covering the clothes as well. It gave her outfit a silvery emerald color. She didn’t have any shoes, so her small and cute bare feet were visible as she wiggled her adorably tiny toes.

  The third thing people should have noticed were the wings on her back. While partially translucent, each wing was beautiful beyond compare and looked extremely fragile, like the lightest touch would cause them to shatter. He thought they were fake at first, but then they fluttered a little, releasing small motes of sparkling dust into the air.

  Of course, all this was secondary to one other, one very simple and astonishing aspect of this otherworldly woman’s appearance.

  She was only about one foot tall.

  She was small enough to stand on the palm of his hand.

  “Muuuu… nyaaaaaa…”

  The woman let out an adorable yawn as she lowered her hands and rubbed her eyes, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, revealing that her ear, while small like a human’s, came to a point near the tips.

  “Haaa. That was a nice nap,” the woman said to herself. “For how long did I sleep, I wonder?”

  The woman spoke with a smoky and regal voice. It reminded him of a character from a movie he once watched with Aris. The movie had been about a monarch, a queen, and the way this woman spoke was exactly like the queen in that movie.

  When Adam saw this woman, saw those features, and glanced at those wings, only one word came to mind.

  “Fairy…”

  While the word was only whispered, it felt abnormally loud in this minuscule room. The fairy most definitely heard it. She became alert almost instantly, her head snapping in his direction.

  Their eyes locked.

  “You there, remove that mask,” the fairy commanded.

  Adam bristled and thought about telling her off. No one told him what to do. However, this was very likely a story event, which meant it would behoove him to do what she wanted.

  For now.

  He removed his mask.

  “You are… a human?” The fairy’s eyes narrowed as she studied him. “A very attractive human.” After confirming for herself that he was attractive, she glanced at the rusty spear in his hand. Her eyes widened as a lovely smile lit up her face, stealing Adam’s breath. “A very attractive human who has been recognized by the spear. Tell me, young human, were you sent here by the goddesses?”

  “Uh… no. I don’t believe so,” Adam said.

  The fairy’s brow furrowed. “Not sent by the goddesses? Then how did you acquire that spear?”

  He shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “How odd. I was told to wait for the goddesses’ chosen, but you say they did not choose you? Could something have happened? Maybe you were chosen and don’t realize it, or perhaps… Hmm…”

  Adam remained silent as the fairy tilted her head down and stared at her feet. She wiggled her toes and bit her lower lip, mumbling something to herself. He waited for a full minute before impatience got the better of him.

  “Who are you?” Adam asked.

  “Hmph. If you are going to ask someone for their name, then is it not common courtesy to introduce yourself first?” asked the fairy as she floated off the bed, then set herself down on the very edge. She crossed her left leg over her right one. The slit on her dress shifted, allowing him to see even more of her magnificent leg. Her small toes wiggled a little with surprising dexterity as she began bouncing her leg like she had attention deficit disorder.

  “Considering the circumstances of our meeting, I think it would be more appropriate for you to introduce yourself first. Actually, I feel like you should hav
e been waiting for me and introduced yourself before going into an exposition about what the hell makes this spear so special, don’t you? Isn’t that how these things normally work?” asked Adam, unwilling to let himself fall into this cliche.

  “Ha ha ha! What an interesting human! You have wit if nothing else.” The fairy wiped a few mirthful tears from her eyes, then gazed at him with those sky blue irises that seemed to contain a depth even more vast than the endless sky. “Very well. I shall introduce myself first. My name is Titania. I am the quee—er, no, I am the guardian of the spear now in your hand.”

  Since this fairy had introduced herself, Adam felt it was only appropriate he returned the gesture. “I am Adam. I’m a player who came down here because I was asked to find someone’s son.”

  “A player? What an odd title.” Titania tilted her head as she considered him. Then she decided that what he called himself didn’t matter because she dismissed her inquisitiveness a second later. “Well, no matter. You may not be the goddesses’ chosen hero, but you have been recognized by the spear, which means I am now free to leave this place.”

  “Before you go, could you at least tell me what you know about this spear?” asked Adam.

  “Go? Ah. You seem to be under some kind of misunderstanding, but, well… hmm… I guess it would be best to talk about this now rather than later, would it not?” Adam had no idea what this woman was going on about, but Titania didn’t seem to notice his confusion as she nodded several times like she had come to a decision. “Okay. Listen well, human. That spear in your hand has gone by many names. The Holy Spear, the Hero Spear, the Scourge of the Land, the Devil’s Weapon. This spear has a long history of both incredible virtue and indescribable violence. Many people have wielded it in the past, but none have ever mastered it.”

  Adam listened, but the more he heard, the more confused he felt. Was this spear evil, or was it good?

  “Are you confused?” Titania smirked. “This spear is neither good nor evil, but those who have wielded it have been both good and evil. The last time this spear appeared in the hands of man, it was wielded by a mighty and terrifying human whose name has been lost to history. He was responsible for the death of more than fifteen percent of the Forgotten Realm’s population. His reign of terror and destruction was so bad that not only was all record of him stricken from history, but the goddesses decided this spear was too powerful and sealed it away until someone worthy could come along.”

  “I… see…” Adam was not quite sure he believed a spear with these terrible stats could do something like what this woman described, but he was not going to argue. “And what makes this spear so special?”

  Titania’s smirk grew even more smug. Adam wished he could wipe that look off her beautiful face.

  “Have you not noticed? Why don’t you look at its stats?”

  Adam sighed, but he did as she asked and checked the stats again.

  Item Name: Rusted Spear

  Lvl: 1

  Experience points needed to level up: 0/5,000

  Item Type: Weapon

  Grade: ????

  Use requirements: Can only be equipped by Adam. Cannot be thrown away, cannot be given away, and cannot be unequipped.

  Description: This unknown weapon was found by Adam. It has recognized him as its master and cannot be used by anyone else.

  Abilities: Physical Attack+10; Strength+10

  Special ability: Sentient Growth

  He considered the stats for a moment. The grade was unknown, its history was unknown, and its stats were terrible, except…

  “Sentient Growth…” Adam murmured before looking at Titania again. “Is it because of the spear’s special ability?”

  “That is correct,” Titania confirmed as she finally flew off the bed and fluttered over to him. The way she floated made it look like she was walking on air. “This spear is the only weapon in the entire world that has the ability to grow more powerful alongside its wielder. As you grow stronger and level up, the spear will grow stronger and level up with you. Your strength and abilities will determine how this weapon will grow. Your actions will determine whether this spear will become a force of good or evil.”

  So this spear was actually some kind of super special item. It sounded like one of those unique, one of a kind items people could acquire by doing something no one else had ever done. Once the item was acquired by someone, it could never be acquired by anyone else. He’d heard of these kinds of items before, but Adam had never gotten one when playing virtual reality games before.

  “Okay. So this spear is terrible now, but it has the potential to become unstoppable later on,” Adam said at last.

  “That is exactly it. I’m so glad you are quick to understand.” Titania really did seem pleased by him. There was a wide smile on her face as she fluttered in the air in front of him.

  “Well, I guess now that I have this spear and know what makes it special, there is nothing more for me to do here,” he said at last. “Guess it’s time to go.”

  “Indeed, let us be off,” Titania said as she fluttered over to his shoulder and sat herself on it. She didn’t weigh much, so he barely felt her on him, but her actions were enough to startle Adam.

  “Er… us?” Adam asked, shooing the woman off his shoulder.

  Titania huffed as she fluttered before his face, placed her hands on her hips, and glared at him. “Of course. Us. Did you think I would let you go off on your own? I am the Guardian of the Spear. It is my job to remain by its side and watch over it at all times. Just because you are its master does not mean my job has changed.”

  Well… this was an interesting predicament. On the one hand, he did not know if he wanted a pint-sized woman tagging along with him everywhere he went. On the other hand, she seemed to be very knowledgeable about this spear, and if Age of Gods was like other virtual reality games he had played, then she probably had a lot of worldly knowledge as well. Bringing along such a fount of knowledge would definitely help him understand more about this world.

  “I guess… it wouldn’t be bad having you tag along with me,” Adam said at last, speaking slowly as he reluctantly decided to let this happen. He knew how this worked. Even if he said no, it would just lead to pointless arguing, and this woman would win in the end.

  A woman’s persistence was a frightening thing.

  “Hmph. You say that like you had a choice,” Titania said with a triumphant smirk.

  Adam’s smile became strained. “So… since we are going to be traveling companions, I have to ask… do you have any special abilities that can help me out, or…?”

  “Are you asking me if I will be useful to you?” asked Titania with a dangerous smile. Adam nodded. “Hmph. I should have known that was your concern. You may rest easy. Once you see my stats, you will understand that having me by your side will give you an incomparable advantage over other people. Indeed, I believe you will become so smitten with me that you’ll never want me to leave your side again.”

  What an incredibly arrogant woman.

  “We’ll see about that…” He sighed, then recalled exactly what she said. “Wait. How can I see your stats?”

  “Like this,” Titania said before a window appeared in front of him.

  Ding!

  [Titania would like to join your party. Will you let her? Yes or no?]

  Adam frowned at the screen before slowly pressing the “yes” button. He was still a little reluctant about letting this woman join him, but he was also curious about her and her abilities.

  Once he accepted her into his party, a new screen appeared. This one looked very similar to his status screen. The difference was that it did not contain his statistics, but Titania’s instead.

  Name: Titania

  Class: Guardian of the Spear

  Lvl: 1

  SP: 0

  AP:0

  Experience: 0/100

  Strength: +10

  Constitution: +10

  Dexterity: +10

 
Intelligence: +100

  Speed: +50

  Physical Attack: +20

  Health: 100/100

  Hit-rate: 10%

  MP: 1,000/1,000

  Movement: +50

  Comprehension: +10

  Physical Defense: +10

  Magic Defense: +30

  Dodge-Rate: 10%

  Magic Attack: +200

  Luck: +1

  Skill Name: Song of Refreshing Rain

  Description: A song that can only be sung by Titania. This song is refreshing and lovely, like light spring rain. It has an incredible healing affect.

  Current lvl: 1

  AP needed to reach next lvl: 20

  Ability: Indefinitely heals +10 HP every 5 seconds for as long as Titania is singing.

  MP consumption: 50 MP per second

  Cooldown time: 30 seconds

  Skill Name: Song of Vigor

  Description: A song that Titania sings to increase the strength of her companions. When sung, this song will increase the Physical Attack and Magic Attack of every companion in her party.

  Current lvl: 1

  AP needed to reach next lvl: 20

  Ability: Raises the Physical Attack and Magic Attack of all allies by 200% for as long as she is singing.

  MP Consumption: 50 MP per second

  Cooldown time: 30 seconds

  Skill Name: Song of Valor

  Description: A song that Titania sings to increase the defensive abilities of allies. Defense and Magical Defense will increase for as long as this song is being sung.

  Current lvl: 1

  AP Needed to reach next lvl: 20

  Ability: 200% increase for Defense and Magical Defense stat of all Titania’s party members. Increase lasts for as long as Titania is singing.

  MP consumption: 50 MP per second

  Cooldown time: 30 seconds

  Skill Name: Scan

  Description: Titania can scan any enemy regardless of level and send that information to all members of her party.