Man Made God 002

by Brandon Varnell

  Lilith found herself being forced into a corner. She wove left, right, ducked, and jumped to keep herself from being sliced apart. A diagonal slash was narrowly avoided when she tilted her body. A horizontal swing from two of the [Asura’s] swords were dodged when she skipped backward. Lilith soon found herself pressed against the corner of the room, but rather than allow herself to remain pinned, she leapt up and pressed her hands and feet against each wall. There she remained as the [Asura] closed in on her. When the two [Asura] were within swinging distance, she pushed off the wall, leapt over their heads, landed on the ground, and spun around to attack the nearest enemy.

  -1; -1; -1!

  Backing off after the [Asura] turned to attack her, Lilith found herself frowning. She did not know how much health these things had. In other words, there was no way for her to tell how long it would take to defeat them. Times like this made her wish she had a [scan scroll]. It would be even better if this game was more like the real world.

  In the real world, when you slit someone’s throat, they died.

  Before Lilith could contemplate this issue more, the [Asura] on the left raised its top left arm. She was confused at first. It was several yards away from her, way too far for its attacks to reach, but then she became shocked when the [Asura] threw its sword at her!

  Even though she was surprised, Lilith was still a trained assassin. She shifted out of the way. However, the other [Asura] used the moment she was distracted to close the distance. It swung at her with three of the six swords on its grasp, and Lilith realized she did not have enough time to dodge every attack.

  The world around her seemed to slow. Her breathing grew heavy. Out of desperation, she raised her blade and tilted it at an angle, allowing the first attack to glance off her weapon. Sparks flew and the force from its swing nearly sent her stumbling backward, but she used the resulting force to spin around and counter the next attack. More sparks flew. Lilith went with the blow once more. This time, she swung her dagger upward, striking the [Asura] on the wrist.

  -2,700!

  She became surprised when her attack finally did damage. It didn’t just do the typical -270 of [slash], but ten times more than what she normally did. She was even more surprised when the arm up to the [Asura’s] elbow was severed, falling to the floor with a heavy thud.

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! You have learned the unique skill: [counter]! This skill is one people can only learn when their reflexes in the real world have completely synchronized with their bodies in the Age of Gods world.]

  Lilith didn’t have the time to be shocked when the announcement appeared in front of her. The [Asura] had not stopped attacking her just because she removed one of its arms. However, now that she had the [counter] skill, Lilith discovered that it was much easier to deal with this enemy’s attacks.

  -2,700; -2,700!

  She did not necessarily understand the mechanics behind the [counter] skill, but as the [Asura] attacked her, she found that it was much easier to counterattack than it was to attack. One of her skills as an assassin had been countering her opponents to begin with. Not only was it easier, but countering her enemy’s attack dealt more damage than simply attacking. This was especially true when she aimed for the [Asura’s] arms. She dealt ten times the damage each time she removed one of its arms.

  -2,700; -2,700; -2,700!

  Lilith finally removed each of the [Asura’s] six arms. With her enemy now unable to attack her, she mercilessly slashed her dagger across its throat, drawing a thin line that bit into the statue.

  -10,000!

  The amount of damage she did was staggering. Even she could not contain her surprise at the number that floated above the [Asura’s] head. Immediately after her attack landed, the enemy’s three-faced head fell off the body, and then the statue crumbled to the ground, leaving only one enemy left.

  Now that Lilith understood how to defeat these [Asura], the situation became much easier. This Trial of the Body was testing her reflexes. It was necessary for assassins to hone their reflexes until they were finer than a razor's edge. As the enemy closed in and attacked, she relied purely on the [counter] skill she had acquired to withstand its attacks and return them with attacks of her own.

  -2,700; -2,700; -2,700; -2,700; -2,700; -2,700; -10,000!

  At last, she finally killed the only remaining [Asura]. As it crumbled into dust, she walked toward the pedestal, unafraid of potential traps. This trial was obviously the Trial of the Body, which meant it was one that tested her combat abilities.

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! You have killed two 1-star [Asura]. +300,000 experience points! +30,000 ability points! +3,000 Reputation!]

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! You have leveled up! You are now at level 14! +10 HP! +5 MP! +5 SP!]

  Lilith was surprised when the announcement that she had leveled up appeared, but she quickly placed her status points into her Strength, then opened the window to look at her new skill.

  Skill Name: Counter

  Description: a skill that Lilith learned because she was already naturally predisposed to using it. Allows user to counter enemy attacks.

  Current lvl: 1

  AP required to reach next lvl: 3,000

  Ability: Redirects attack and strikes with counterattack

  Does 200% damage

  Requirements: Users must have precise timing when countering. If your timing is off, the one who suffers critical damage will be the user

  MP Cost: 5

  Cooldown time: 20

  Countering an opponent’s attack was something that all skilled assassins could do, though some were better at it than others. Lilith’s two greatest assets were her stealth and her reflexes. The only person who had better hand to eye coordination and reflexes than her was Adam.

  Since Lilith had +60,020 ability points to spend, she spent almost everything on upgrading this skill, leaving her with only +15,020 ability points left. That brought her skill up to level 5. She would need +48,000 ability points to upgrade it again.

  The hexagonal emblem resting on the pedestal had the depiction of a human torso with flexing arms carved into the flat surface. She picked the object up and stored it in her item pouch. After making sure there was nothing more for her inside the room, she left the building and traveled toward the last building within this courtyard.

  While the previous two rooms weren’t very large, this last one seemed unusually big, or at least oddly long. She found herself standing in a long corridor that seemingly stretched on forever. So long was it that she couldn’t even see the end. However, with no way out after the door locked behind her, she could only press forward.

  She began walking.

  And walking.

  And walking.

  Lilith stopped when she realized that walking was getting her nowhere. The end of this corridor was still nowhere in sight. To make matters more unusual, when she turned around, the door was still only a few feet away. It was like she hadn’t moved at all.

  Was this an illusion?

  The last trial had been of the body, and the one before that was of the heart, which meant this was the Trial of the Mind. That meant this trial was something that would in some way test her mind, but just what that meant was still something she wasn’t clear on. Was it testing her ability to think? Was it testing to see if she could cut through this illusion to reach the last emblem? She didn’t know.

  Since she couldn’t figure out what this test wanted from her, Lilith studied her surroundings. She pressed a hand against the wall. This wall was made of rice paper, though it was not actually made from rice. That was a name the west gave it because it sounded Asian. It was called shoji paper. From what she understood, shoji paper were wooden sliding doors with translucent paper on them. The doors slid on wood tracks and worked as room dividers or window coverings.

  Walking forward several steps, Lilith found that this shoji paper had a door. She reached out, slid the door open, and stepp
ed into the room.

  The room was mostly empty save the wall on her left. A large figure dressed in armor stood inside an alcove. The armor was made of iron laced into horizontal rows. It was called lamellar armor because it consisted of small platelets known as “lamellae” or “lames,” which were punched and laced together. This sort of armor had been used across many countries, including European countries, but the style for this particular suit of armor was definitely Chinese.

  The suit of armor was grasping a zhanmadao—a type of Chinese sword called a horse chopping saber that originated during the Han Dynasty. It possessed a long, broad blade with a long handle that was suitable for two-handed use. It was great for slicing at the legs of horses to stop cavalry charges, but it was generally impractical to use in single combat against a normal opponent.

  Hanging from the wall on the right of the armor suit was a scroll. The same glyphs from the stone tablet was written on the scroll, but oddly enough, Lilith realized she could actually read what had been written. She didn’t understand how, exactly, but she knew it must have happened when the light from that tablet entered her head.

  “Alive as you but without breath,”

  “As cold in my life as in my death;”

  “Never a thirst though I always drink,”

  “Dressed in mail but never a clink.”

  “What am I?”

  Lilith read the riddle out loud and puzzled over the answer. She looked at the suit of armor. It would no doubt attack if she answered wrong. After thinking over the riddle for a moment, she nodded and answered confidently.

  “A fish.”

  The sound of something sliding caused Lilith to spin around. On the other side of the room, a door had slid open. She walked through it without hesitation.

  This time she found herself in a room that had two alcoves with two suits of armor. Both suits of armor were in the same Chinese style, but one was red and the other black. They each had a scroll hanging on the wall next to them.

  Lilith went over to the red suit of armor and read the next riddle.

  “It brings back the lost as though never gone, shines laughter and tears with light long since shone; a moment to make, a lifetime to shed; valued then but lost when you’re dead. What is it?”

  Something that brought back the lost? Was that talking about finding something that was missing? No, this wasn’t lost as in missing but lost as in gone. It brought back something that was gone, and it only took a moment to make that something. What could people make that brought back something that was lost? An item? A camera? A picture? That could bring back the item in a sense, but she didn’t think that was what it meant since this world did not have cameras. If that wasn’t what it meant, then it could only be one thing.

  “A memory.”

  There was no sliding door opening this time, but a soft click did echo around the room. Lilith frowned. However, when nothing else happened, she traveled to the next riddle.

  “The man who invented it,”

  “Doesn’t want it for himself.”

  “The man who bought it,”

  “Doesn’t need it for himself.”

  “The man who needs it,”

  “Doesn’t know it when he needs it.”

  “What is it?”

  “A coffin,” Lilith answered.

  Another click. Another door opened.

  Lilith was beginning to understand this Trial of the Mind a bit more. It was testing her ability to think and reason by giving her riddles. Since this was a trial set by a member of the Demon Knight Clan, and they were an extinct race known for their assassination skills, most of the riddles focused either on death, transient concepts, or misleading answers like the first riddle she had solved.

  She ended up having to answer six more riddles, then entered a room where a small pedestal with a hexagon shaped emblem sat atop it. This one had the silhouette of a head on it. Upon stowing the item in her item pouch, she left the building and came back to the stone tablet located on the island in the center of the lake.

  Lilith took out each stone emblem and placed them into the depressions one by one. She placed each one inside of the depression that she believed corresponded to the buildings where she took the trials. The one with the heart was on the left, the one with the head was in the middle, and the one with the body was on the right.

  As soon as she set the last emblem into place, a loud rumbling shook the earth. Lilith bent her knees and readied her dagger. She soon found, however, that she didn’t need to fight. No enemy appeared before her. Instead, what happened was the stone tablet rose up from the ground, revealing an archway and a staircase beyond it.

  The stairs were dark. She could not see anything down below. But since she had already come this far, how could she back out now? Lilith took a single step forward, then another and another, until she was walking down the nearly pitch black staircase.

  As she reached the bottom, several flames burst into existence, one after the other, until they revealed a circular room. This room had a stone floor, a stone ceiling, and torches at even intervals along the stone wall. In the very middle was a long coffin, ornate carvings of a humanoid demon silhouetted against the moon etched onto the lid. Next to the coffin was a pedestal with a scroll on it.

  While still feeling a little cautious, Lilith warily walked up to the pedestal and looked at the scroll.

  Item Name: Demon Knight Assassin Scroll

  Item Type: Hidden Class Scroll

  Grade: 4-Star

  Use requirements: Can only be used by Assassin class players

  Description: The Demon Knight Clan had once been known as the rulers of shadows due to their unparalleled ability to kill while remaining unseen. This talent eventually led to their extinction. To prevent the skills they had acquired from being lost, the last surviving member poured his life and soul into creating this scroll.

  Abilities: Changes Assassin class to Demon Knight Assassin

  Leveling System:

  Strength+1 = +8 Physical Attack

  Constitution+1 = +3 Health; +3 Physical Defense; +3 Magical Defense

  Dexterity+1 = 40% Hit-Rate; 40% Dodge-Rate

  Intelligence+1 = +2 MP; +2 Magic Attack

  Speed+1 = +5 Movement

  Skills:

  Shadow Masking: Uses the shadows to remain unseen even while moving

  Offers complete invisibility at the cost of 10 MP per every 10 seconds

  Pinpoint Strike: Everybody has a weak point

  Targeting the enemy’s weak point deals 400% damage

  Dual-wielding: This passive skill allows users to wield two weapons at the same time for twice the damage

  Demon Knight Assassin’s can only use weapons of the dagger class

  While Lilith rarely displayed emotion unless something cute came along, that did not mean she didn’t have them. Her face was still blank. Yet even though she didn’t reveal her innermost thoughts on her face, she could not help but marvel at the hidden class’s potential. This class was so much better than the Assassin class that it wasn’t even funny. She now understood why Adam had been so adamant on helping them attain one.

  Lilith unrolled the scroll just like she’d seen Susan do. The scroll began glowing. Then the glow encompassed her. An unusual but not uncomfortable warmth spread through her chest, though it was accompanied by an odd sense of her vision, hearing, and sense of smell vanishing. Everything came back soon enough, and when it did, Lilith felt like her senses had increased somehow. The light from the torches seemed brighter. She could make out the flickering flames more easily. The ancient and musty scent of this room was sharper. She could even hear the drip, drop of water falling somewhere in the distance.

  It felt very odd.

  Before she could ponder these new sensations for too long, the coffin slid open. Lilith was surprised to find there was no corpse inside. There wasn’t even a skeleton. However, resting inside the coffin was a set of black armor and a weapon. There was a mask, c
hest plate, gloves, leggings, boots, and a glimmering obsidian dagger.

  Item Name: Demon Knight Mask

  Item Type: Armor

  Grade: 1-star

  Use requirements: Can only be equipped by Demon Knight Assassins

  Description: The face mask of a Demon Knight is used to ensure no one can discover or steal their identity

  Abilities: Physical Defense+50; Magical Defense+50; 20% chance of remaining hidden when using skills like [hide] and [shadow masking]; makes it impossible for players 10 levels higher than the wearer to [scan] your level

  Item Name: Demon Knight Chest Plate

  Item Type: Armor

  Grade: 1-star

  Use requirements: Can only be equipped by Demon Knight Assassins

  Description: This black chest plate offers protection against attacks and still increases your aptitude for stealth

  Abilities: Physical Defense+100; Magical Defense+100; 10% chance of avoiding a critical hit; 20% chance of remaining hidden when using skills like [hide] and [shadow masking]

  Item Name: Demon Knight Gloves

  Item Type: Armor

  Grade: 1-star

  Use requirements: Can only be equipped by Demon Knight Assassins

  Description: The gloves of a Demon Knight offers protection and increases your skills at stealth

  hysical Defense+25; Magical Defense+25; 20% chance of remaining hidden when using skills like [hide] and [shadow masking]

  Item Name: Demon Knight Leggings

  Item Type: Armor

  Grade: 1-star

  Use requirements: Can only be equipped by Demon Knight Assassins

  Description: These leggings were created from a unique creature found only on the Forgotten Continent

  Abilities: Physical Defense+30; Magical Defense+ 30; 20% chance of remaining hidden when using skills like [hide] and [shadow masking]