Man Made God 001
Page 23
So he was up against a [giant octopus] that shot poisonous needles from its mouth? It was a 2-star enemy and at level 20?! This was…
“This is great!” Adam shouted. “I was worried because we haven’t earned enough experience points to level up, but it looks like I’ll be able to level up after I kill this thing!”
“That’s what you’re happy about?!” Titania snapped. “This is a 2-star enemy, you know! You’re only at level 9!”
“So?” Adam laughed. “Who cares about that? Just help me kill it!”
“You…”
Titania seemed shocked that Adam was so gung-ho about fighting this [giant octopus], but that was because she hadn’t seen him fight and kill both the [necromancer] and the [skeleton dragon] back in the dungeon where she and the [Rusted Spear] had been sealed.
Adam activated [Blood Sacrifice] and asked Titania to sing [Song of Vigor]. His first skill increased his Physical Attack from +330 to +660, and Titania’s song further increased his stat to +1,452. It was an impressive number that made Adam grin.
With adrenaline pumping through his body, Adam threw himself to the side as another tentacle slammed into the ground and leapt at it. He used [thrust] and [slash] seconds after each other, spinning his spear around several times to attack the tentacle as many times as possible before it could retract. His feet formed the shape of a sakura blossom against the ground as he maneuvered himself around the tentacle during his all out assault.
-2,323; -2,178; MISS; -2,178; MISS; MISS!
While Adam missed three times, his constant attacks still brought the original +40,000 HP down to around +33,321. A loud squeal of pain erupted from somewhere in the water as the tentacle retracted. Adam had to wait again for the tentacle to come back.
He almost missed the second tentacle coming in from his other side to sweep him away. Adam leapt into the air, avoiding the tentacle, then slashed at it as he came back down. He only managed one hit, but it sapped another -2,178 off his enemy’s health.
At that moment, [Blood Sacrifice] reached its time limit, and Adam had to wait for the 30 second cooldown time to end before he could activate it again. He took a health potion to restore his HP, dodged the tentacle attacks from the [giant octopus], and launched numerous attacks at it before it could recover.
MISS; MISS; -990; -990; MISS!
MISS; MISS; -990; -990; MISS; MISS; MISS!
Adam realized he was missing more attacks than normal, but he thought that might have something to do with the [giant octopus] rather than his ability to hit something. Maybe these tentacles were simply so slippery they had a higher than average Dodge-Rate.
The [giant octopus] must have gotten frustrated with its inability to hit him as well. Several tentacles shot out of the water and tried to pierce his body. He danced through the hailstorm of tentacles, which punctured the ground as if the rock floor was made of toilet paper. At that moment, the cooldown time for [Blood Sacrifice] ended, so he activated it again and began attacking the tentacles with reckless abandon.
-2,178; MISS; MISS; -2,178; -2,178; MISS; -2,178; MISS; MISS!
Adam hated how much HP these 2-star monsters possessed. As he constantly whittled away at the [giant octopus] and its stupid amount of health, he tried to think of a more efficient way of killing this thing. He didn’t just want to keep attacking tentacles. There must have surely been another method that would let him end this fight quicker.
As more tentacles attacked, Adam continued to dodge and attack in turn, not stopping even after [Blood Sacrifice] ended again. Fortunately, Titania and her beautiful singing voice could go on until she ran out of MP.
Speaking of…
“I’m out of MP!” Titania shouted at him.
Adam reached into his pouch and pulled out a [low-grade magic potion] as he dodged backward, until he was standing right next to Titania.
“Here!” he said as he held out the potion.
Because she was so small, Titania could not hold the potion herself. Adam cracked the top open and tipped it back so Titania could drink it. They were out of the tentacles’ reach right now. He watched as several tentacles futilely slammed into the ground in front of him.
When Titania finished the MP potion, she began singing again while Adam activated [Blood Sacrifice] once more and dashed forward to renew his assault on the [giant octopus].
- 2,178; MISS; MISS; -2,178; -2,178; -2,178; MISS; MISS; - 2,178; -2,178!
The battle continued. When the [giant octopus] had less than +10,000 health, the water bulged like skin swelling up after someone was bitten by a mosquito. Something broke the surface. It was a monstrous head with glowing red eyes, an ugly mouth with puckered lips, and odd protrusions that looked like warts all over its skin. The fact that it was breaking the water’s surface could only mean one thing.
It was going to use [Needle Shot].
Adam ran away from where he had been standing. His reaction time was quick. The needles were launched from the creature’s mouth barely a second after he moved, hundreds of needles clinking against the stone floor. While they all missed, this seemed to enrage the monster, who once more tried to slam him into the ground with a tentacle.
And that was when Adam got an idea.
The tentacle crashed into the ground, and Adam leapt onto it and ran along the tentacle, activating [Blood Sacrifice] as he used his inborn grace to race across the slippery surface. He reached the [giant octopus’] head in record time and used [slash] over and over again.
-6,534; MISS; MISS; MISS; MISS; -6,534!
His attacks quickly brought the creature’s health down to zero. The [giant octopus] thrashed hard like it was spasming. Adam yelped as he was thrown off its body, hitting the water with a hard splash. Coldness filled his veins as he sank, but he kicked his legs and quickly broke the water’s surface, gasping for breath. He looked around and was just in time to see the [giant octopus] disappearing into the dark water. The last thing he saw was one of its tentacles sinking beneath the surface.
Ding!
[You have defeated the 2-star monster [giant octopus]! Items dropped: [unknown key], [Water Trident], [unknown map], and 1,200 gold coins. +10,000 experience points! +1,600 ability points! +5,000 Reputation!]
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have leveled up. You are now at level 10! +30 HP! +10 MP! +5 SP!]
Ding!
[Congratulations! Titania has leveled up! Her level is now 9! +20 HP! +1,800 MP! +10 SP!]
Adam listened to the announcements as he swam to the shore, then put his newly gained SP into his Strength stat and equipped the [Bone Dragon Greaves], [Bone Dragon Cuirass], and [Bone Dragon Gauntlets]. Now that he had reached level 10, he could finally equip this excellent equipment, which boosted his stats to an unbelievable degree.
Name: Adam
Class: Warrior
Lvl: 10
SP: 0
AP: 1,700
Experience: 3,080/76,800
Reputation: 26,500
Strength: +150
Constitution: +150
Dexterity: +5
MP: +5
Speed: +6
Physical Attack: +380
Health: 200/200
Hit-rate: 6%
MP:90/90
Movement: +6
Physical Defense: +435
Magic Defense: +150
Dodge-Rate: ???
Magic Attack: +5
Resistance:
Fire: 50%
Water: 50%
Earth: 50%
Wind: 50%
Lightning: 50%
Darkness: 50%
Slashing: 50%
Skill Name: Slash
Description: A basic skill where the player swings his or her sword and attacks the enemy!
Current lvl: 5 MAX
MAXED
Ability: Causes 150% damage to enemy if it hits
MP consumption: 1
Cooldown time: 0 seconds
Skill Name: Thrust
&nb
sp; Description: A basic skill where the player thrusts his or her sword at the enemy!
Current lvl: 5 MAX
MAXED
Ability: Causes 160% damage with a 5% chance at getting a critical hit
MP Consumption: 5
Cooldown time: 1 second
Skill Name: Blood Sacrifice
Description: By sacrificing 50% of your blood (HP), you have gained the ability to increase the damage you do.
Current lvl: 5
MAXED
Ability: causes 300% attack power for 60 seconds
Disregards skill cooldown times, allowing the user to attack with every skill
MP consumption: 20
Special limit: Drops HP by half
Cooldown time: 30 seconds
Name: Rusted Spear
Level: 4
Experience points needed to level up: 11,700/40,000
Item Type: Spear
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+40; Strength+40
Special ability: Sentient Growth
Item Name: Dragon Bone Cuirass
Item Type: Armor
Grade: 1-star
Use requirements: Can be equipped by Warriors level 10 and above
Description: This chest plate was made from the bones of a powerful dragon. Not only does it look stylish, but it offers solid defensive abilities and some special stats.
Abilities: Defense+200; Constitution+100; 25% resistance to slashing, fire, earth, wind, lightning, and darkness damage
Item Name: Dragon Bone Gauntlets
Item Type: Armor
Grade: 1-star
Use requirements: Can be equipped by Warriors level 10 and above
Description: These gauntlets are made from the bones of a powerful dragon. Not only are they stylish, but they offer solid defensive abilities and resistance to elemental damage.
Abilities: Defense+50; Constitution+10; 10% resistance to slashing, fire, earth, wind, lightning, and darkness damage
Item Name: Bone Dragon Greaves
Item Type: Armor
Grade: 1-star
Use requirements: Can be equipped by Warriors level 10 and above
Description: Greaves made from the bones of a powerful dragon. They are not only stylish, they also offer solid defense and resistance against elemental damage.
Abilities: Defense+75; Constitution+25; 15% resistance to slashing, fire, earth, wind, lightning, and darkness damage
Thanks to his new equipment, Adam’s stats had skyrocketed, especially his Constitution and Defense stats. Now when he leveled up again, he would gain a lot more HP because his Constitution stat was so high. He also had a Physical Defense stat that was so solid most monsters living near the Village of Beginnings would not be able to damage him. Other players wouldn’t be able to hurt him either.
“I think we’re good,” he said with a cheerful smile. “Let’s get going.”
Adam began walking off, only to realize that Titania was not following him. He turned around and looked at the tiny fairy.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“There is nothing wrong,” Titania said, snapping out of her stupor and flying over to him. She landed on his shoulder and huffed. “I am merely beginning to realize how abnormal you are.”
“Well, thanks. I’m happy to know you think I am odd.”
“Hmph. Odd does not even begin to cover it. A normal person at level 9 would never be able to defeat a level 20 2-star monster no matter how talented they are.”
Adam couldn’t say anything to that. All he could do was shrug.
They made their way out of the cave and back to the Village of Beginnings, where Adam delivered Ms. Romelda’s ring to her in exchange for +1,000 experience points, +100 ability points, and x10 [health potions] and [MP potions] respectively. It wasn’t a bad haul all things considered.
Once Adam finished delivering the missing ring, he went to the Mayor.
“You already reached level 10?!” The mayor seemed shocked as he wiped his sweaty face with a handkerchief. “My word, but you otherworlders are impressive. Or maybe it is simply that you yourself are impressive.”
“This human is my companion. Of course he is impressive.” Titania’s chest swelled with pride as if she herself was the one being complimented. It was almost like she hadn’t been calling him abnormal barely half an hour ago.
“A-a-a-a fairy! It’s really a fairy! I can’t believe there is actually a fairy here… why is she so little?”
“… Do you want me to curse you?”
The mayor’s response surprised Adam, but he soon learned that fairies were considered an extinct race. According to the mayor, a fairy had not been seen for at least five-thousand years, which surprisingly coincided with when Titania had been sealed away alongside the spear. This knowledge seemed to depress Titania, who grew quiet and contemplative.
“A-anyway,” the mayor got back on track, “now that you have reached level 10, I assume you wish to leave? We do have a ship that will take you to the mainland. We can give you passage right now if you’d like, but please be warned that once you leave, you will not be able to return. If you have anything you would like to accomplish before leaving, now is the time to do it.”
“I would like to leave,” Adam said.
“In that case, please follow me,” the mayor said with a gesture.
Adam did not hesitate to follow after the mayor as the older man walked off. There was nothing more for him to do in this Village of Beginnings. It was time to leave.
To Be Continued…
Thank you for reading!
I want to thank everyone who read Man Made God 001. I hope you enjoyed it immensely.
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Afterword
Hello one and all. This is Brandon Varnell speaking. I sincerely hope you enjoyed Man Made God 001. If you did and have the time, please consider writing a review on Amazon. Reviews are imperative for an author’s growth and help readers make decisions on what books to read. Amazon also does this magic trick where books with over one-hundred 4 and 5-star reviews are shown to more readers.
While I have done one other series
that has a leveling system, Man Made God is the first gamelit series I have ever written. I remember going on Amazon and reading a crap ton of gamelit stories in preparation to write this, including The Land, Ready Player One. Sword Art Online, The World Book, Stonehaven League, Death March Rhapsody to a Parallel World, The Completionist Chronicles, New Era Online, and quite a few other best selling RPGlit series. I have no real experience with leveling systems or gamelit, so I wanted to make sure I did a good job.
Creating a leveling system was much harder than I expected. I ended up making Adam level up to 10 twice after writing three books and had to redo his entire level progression from volume 1.
I also wanted to see how other authors wrote their characters into a video game world. During my reading, I discovered that there were a few ways in which characters entered a game. This list contains what seems to be the most used methods based on my research:
1. A hot new game comes out. The protagonist grabs a copy, loads it up, and finds himself/herself trapped inside of a death game with thousands of other players.
2. A terminally ill patient/convict on death’s row is offered a way to avoid death, but the catch is their subconscious will be converted into polygons and downloaded into a brand new game that some sketchy scientists are testing.
3. The protagonist gets isekai’d to a world that has a leveling system just like his favorite video game!
4. The protagonist just wants to live another life in this new VRMMO, but something happens after he/she is loaded into the game, and he/she learns that this game is much darker than it first seemed.
These methods were used the most in the forty or so books I read. I’m sure there are many more. I also know that Japan has released a string of slice-of-life gamelit light novels about cute girls playing VRMMOs for fun.
Out of all the books I read, the one where a loved one is terminally ill and the protagonist is offered a chance to save them was the least used. A story called Shura’s Wrath was what influenced the beginning of this series. I only read one dozen chapters before I learned something disturbing about the protagonist that made me quit, but I really enjoyed those first few chapters, enough that I wanted to create a similar premise for the beginning my story.