Man Made God 001
Page 16
With a snarl, he continued attacking it with [slash] and [thrust], but all of his attacks did the same damage, which was definitely not enough to put even a scratch in this creature’s health. The [necromancer] had +30,000 health, and this thing was a dragon. A level 20 3-star [skeleton dragon]! Just how much health would this monster have? Adam wagered it was at least +50,000 if not higher.
As he attacked the [skeleton dragon’s] legs, his massive foe tried to stomp on him. Adam ran away and leapt into the air as the stomp shook the ground. He thought he felt a shockwave push against him, but he couldn’t be sure as he landed on the ground and kept running—only for the dragon’s massive tail to come in swinging!
Adam cursed as he leapt sideways and barely avoided the tail, which slammed into the ground and shook the floor, walls, and ceiling. A crack spread along the ground where the tail smashed into it. He stumbled backwards but fortunately wasn’t stunned. That would have been bad. However, the tail was now resting on the ground, which gave Adam an idea.
He leapt onto the tail and used the ridges of the [skeleton dragon’s] spine to race up its body. As he did, he attacked numerous times with [slash] to search for a weak point.
-480; -480; - 480; -480; -480; -1,500!
Adam’s eyes widened when he saw the -1,500 floating over the [skeleton dragon’s] head. This attack had come after he landed on the creature’s neck and began attacking its skull. It seemed the head was one of its weak points.
A grin appeared on his face.
[Blood Sacrifice]!
With [Blood Sacrifice] activated, Adam sacrificed half of his HP in exchange for two times more Physical Attack power for 30 seconds. He took an HP potion really quick and began attacking the [skeleton dragon] with numerous strikes to the head. Because he was on top of it, the [skeleton dragon] could not fight back since it didn’t have any limbs that reached this far.
-1,500; MISS; -1,500; MISS; MISS; -1,500!
While Adam tried to stay on the [skeleton dragon] for as long as possible, the creature eventually wised up and began rampaging around like a bucking bronco. Adam was unable to maintain his balance. When the creature slammed its own body into a wall, he was flung off and landed on the ground, hitting hard and rolling for several yards.
-60!
“Ouch…”
While striking the ground like that hadn’t hurt as much as it would have in real life, it was still very painful. His health gauge also dropped to +80, so he needed to take another health potion. Wincing as he stood to his feet, Adam stared warily at the [skeleton dragon] as it came stomping back over to him, its red eyes glowing with malevolence.
Actually, its red eyes did seem to be glowing a bit more than usual.
Adam’s eyes widened.
“Shit! Shit, shit, shit! FUCK!”
Adam bolted like a frightened rabbit, and he was just in time to avoid the red beams fired from the eyes of the [skeleton dragon]. The beams tore into the stone floor, gouging two one meter wide trenches out of the ground. Not only did both trenches extend all the way to the wall, but they were a molten orange as if the beams were heat rays that could melt through stone.
An undead dragon was firing laser beams from its eyes?! What kind of crappy game was this?!
Because he didn’t want to get caught by that attack again, Adam raced toward the [skeleton dragon] to once more engage it in close-quarters-combat. His goal was to climb onto its back and attack its head again. Of course, saying he was going to do that and actually doing it were two completely different matters. The [skeleton dragon] also seemed to understand what he wanted to do because it was doing everything in its power to stop him.
The [skeleton dragon] stomped onto the ground, unleashing earthquakes that caused a [stun] effect. Adam found himself stunned several times. He was lucky, however, because the [stun] effect didn’t seem to work on him very well. It only lasted for a split second before coming undone. He didn’t know what was going on, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
-480; -480; MISS; MISS; MISS; MISS; -480; MISS; -480!
Adam had to dance around its legs constantly and wait for the [skeleton dragon] to use its tail, but it seemed reluctant to do that after what happened last time. It kept trying to squash him with its feet. He wondered about this monster’s learning algorithm. It seemed far smarter than most enemies from other games, who all had very predictable attack patterns.
As the minutes wore on and the monster was unable to successfully attack him, it grew impatient and once more tried to swipe at him with its tail. That tail probably did the most damage out of all its limbs.
Adam timed the tail’s movements and jumped two seconds before it reached him. He landed on the tail, grabbed the ridges to keep himself from being flung off, and waited for the tail to stop moving before he scrambled up it. He leapt onto the massive and bony back, ran up its body, and activated [Blood Sacrifice] before attacking its head again.
-1,500; -1,500; -1,500; -1,500; -1,500!
Now that he had worked out a strategy, the battle became a lot easier. Adam would race up the [skeleton dragon], attack its head after activating [Blood Sacrifice], and jump back down before it could throw him off. He would dodge the laser eye attack, go back in, and repeat the process.
Maybe it was a result of how realistic this game was, but the damage inflicted to the surroundings by the laser beams didn’t disappear. They remained where they were. What’s more, the trenches were still hot. Adam made the mistake of going near one, which caused his health to drop and pain to lance through his mind as the heat from the damage burned him. He needed to be careful and avoid those areas until the molten stone cooled.
This thing had a lot of HP. Adam had been counting the amount of damage he’d done, and he had already inflicted over -50,000 points worth of damage. To make matters worse, he didn’t actually know how much health this thing possessed. It didn’t have a health bar to show him. He only had those little numbers appearing above its head to let him know how much damage he was inflicting on it.
-1,500; MISS; MISS; -1,500; MISS; MISS; -6,000!
Adam smiled as he landed a critical strike on the [skeleton dragon]. His [Blood Sacrifice] skill deactivated after running its course, and Adam leapt off before it could buck him off and cause him damage. He consumed a health potion and a mana potion while in midair, landed on the ground, and kept running. He turned his head to look at the [skeleton dragon]. If it followed its normal procedure, then this would be the moment where it fired lasers from its eyes.
Except it didn’t.
Adam became stunned when the [skeleton dragon] opened its mouth and unleashed a subsonic roar that created soundwaves. He didn’t question how a creature without vocal cords could do that. Games like this didn’t always have mechanics that made sense.
The moment those soundwaves struck him, he was forced onto his hands and knees as a scream tore from his mouth. Even though he only felt fifteen percent of the pain he would have experienced in real life, the pain of having a monster roaring into his ears like this was not something that could be underestimated. It felt like his eardrums were about to explode! He pressed his hands against his ears and tried to block out the sound to no avail.
The roar did eventually stop, but Adam could not move for several seconds. He felt sick, his ears were ringing, and his head was killing him. The pounding inside his skull made Adam feel like his brains were being squeezed out of his eyeballs. He just wanted to curl into a ball and squeeze his eyes shut. However, as a shadow appeared above his head, Adam realized there was no way he could curl into a ball right now.
He rolled across the ground as a clawed foot slammed into the floor where he’d been standing. Another chunk of stone was gouged out as the dragon foot crushed it. Adam grimaced when he saw cracks extending from underneath the foot. The amount of damage being done to the surrounding environment was ridiculous. What made him feel worse was that he hadn’t been able to leave even a single scratch on t
his place. Maybe that meant you had to have a certain level of Strength or a high Physical Attack stat to damage an environment like this.
Adam once more began dodging its attacks and waited for it to use its tail. He waited for a long time. After what felt like an eternity, the [skeleton dragon] swept its tail at Adam, who leapt onto it one more time and began attacking upon activating [Blood Sacrifice].
MISS; -1,500; MISS; MISS; -1,500; -1,500; 1,500!
After inflicting another -6,000 points worth of damage, Adam was getting ready to leap off the [skeleton dragon] when he noticed that it was no longer moving. He glanced at the now-still body, then looked into the skeleton’s eyes, which were growing dim.
Ding!
[You have defeated the 3-star enemy [skeleton dragon]. Items dropped: [dragon bone cuirass], [dragon bone gauntlets], and [dragon bone greaves]! +20,000 experience points! +4,000 Ability Points!]
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have leveled up! You are now at level 9! +30 HP! +10 MP! +5 SP!]
Ding!
[Congratulations! You are the first person to kill a 3-star enemy! Because you are the first player in the history of Age of Gods to kill a 3-star enemy, you have earned +10,000 Reputation. Reputation does not affect your status in any way. However, it does affect your standing among player and non-player characters. You may also be granted special privileges from non-player characters. Creating a guild also requires at least +100,000 Reputation. The more Reputation you have accumulated, the more easily recognizable you will be to shop owners and other important figures. Some shop owners may even give you discounts, and quest holders might be more willing to give you higher level quests that are considered too dangerous for a player at your current level.]
Adam had never heard of Reputation being used in a game before, but he guessed it was something like a person’s fame. By acquiring a lot of Reputation, your acclaim within the game increased, which could offer some benefits like getting higher level quests from NPCs, creating a guild, getting store discounts, etc..
[Because you are the first person to acquire Reputation, you have been placed at the top of the Reputation Chart. You are currently the only one on the Reputation Chart. An international announcement will be made regarding your new status, along with your accomplishment of killing a 3-star enemy.]
Announcements like this were fairly common in virtual reality games. Because a lot of people, even people who didn’t play video games, cared about who were the top ranking players, system wide announcements to list a specific player’s accolades happened frequently, especially near the beginning of a game. He’d had several similar announcements made about him back when he was demolishing the top ranked players three years ago.
Ding!
[We have an international announcement to make! As of 3:32am Eastern Standard Time, the player Adam defeated the first 3-star enemy in the game and has earned +10,000 Reputation. Players with +100,000 Reputation are able to form Guilds. Please keep this in mind as you progress. We hope that all of you will strive your hardest to earn fame, fortune, and glory as you traverse the ancient and mysterious Forgotten Realm.]
It was a pretty standard announcement, all things considered. Adam didn’t particularly care about his name being announced to the entire world. Actually, this fit rather well with his goals in the game. The more famous he was, the higher his reputation would become, and the better his chances would be of helping Fayte win that bet with Levon.
Since he had leveled up, Adam placed all of his SP into his Strength stat, upgraded [Blood Sacrifice] with the 4,000 AP he gained from killing the [skeleton dragon], and checked his stats to see how they looked now.
Name: Adam
Class: Warrior
Lvl: 9
SP: 0
AP: 1,200
Experience: 14,280/38,400
Reputation: +10,000
Strength: +105
Constitution: +15
Dexterity: +5
Intelligence: +5
Speed: +1
Physical Attack: +310
Health: 170/170
Hit-rate: 6%
MP: 60/60
Movement: +6
Physical Defense: +95
Magic Defense: +15
Dodge-Rate: ???
Magic Attack: +5
Resistance:
Blunt: 5%
Slashing: 5%
Piercing: 5%
Skill Name: Slash
Description: A basic skill where the player swings his or her weapon and attacks the enemy!
Current lvl: 5
MAXED
Ability: Causes 150% damage to enemy if it hits
MP consumption: 1
Cooldown time: 0 seconds
Skill Name: Thrust
Description: A basic skill where the player thrusts his or her weapon at the enemy!
Current lvl: 5
MAXED
Ability: Causes 200% 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 your physical attack power for a limited period of time! This skill is unique to the player Adam.
Current lvl: 4
AP needed to reach next lvl 5: 4,000
Ability: Causes Attack Power to rise 250% for 60 seconds
Disregards skill cooldown times, allowing the user to attack with every skill without limit
MP consumption: 30
Special limit: Drops HP by half
Cooldown time: 30 seconds
He licked the inside of his cheek as he looked over his stats, nodded once in satisfaction, and switched to his item screen so he could check out the items that his enemy had dropped.
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 dragon. Not only does it look stylish, but it offers solid defensive abilities and resistance to elemental damage.
Abilities: Constitution+100; Physical Defense+200; +25% resistance to fire, earth, wind, lightning, water, 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 dragon. Not only are they stylish, but they offer solid defensive abilities and resistance to elemental damage.
Abilities: Constitution+10; Physical Defense+50; +10% resistance to fire, earth, wind, lightning, water, and darkness damage
Item Name: Dragon Bone 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 dragon. They are not only stylish, they also offer solid defense and resistance against elemental damage.
Abilities: Constitution+25; Physical Defense+75; +15% resistance to fire, earth, wind, lightning, water, and darkness damage
It looked like he couldn’t equip any of this armor until he reached level 10. That sucked, but he was confident he would reach level 10 soon.
Since he couldn’t equip his new armor, Adam continued on. At the very back of the chamber was a small archway that led into another room. This room was much smaller than the one he battled the [skeleton dragon] in. The stone walls, floor, and ribbed ceiling weren’t much to look at. However, there was a small platform in the center of this room, and embedded into a pedestal in the very center of the platform was…
“A rusty spear?”
Adam spoke out loud as he walked up to what was, indeed, an old and worn-looking spear. It was long at somewhere around seven feet in length, making it over a foot taller
than him. The shaft was made of a worn out metal that glinted with a dull glimmer in the light. What’s more, the spear point was equally dull and shaped like a simple triangle.
“I wonder what this thing is doing here,” he muttered.
Given that this spear was located in a room immediately after a [skeletal dragon], Adam could only assume the dragon was guarding this weapon, but it didn’t seem to have any unique attributes. It didn’t even look like it could be used.
With a curious frown, Adam wrapped his fingers around the shaft. It was pleasantly cool. He offered a slight grunt before, straining his muscles, he pulled the spear out of the pedestal.
Ding!
[Congratulations! The weapon [Rusted Spear] has recognized you as its master! You are now the sole owner of the [Rusted Spear]. It cannot be equipped by anyone else, you cannot throw it away, and because you are now its master, you can no longer use any weapons aside from the [Rusted Spear]!]
“… Huh?”
Adam stared blankly at the announcement screen, which seemed to be saying something really idiotic right now. There was no way this rusted, ugly ass spear could be the only weapon he was able to use now, right? Right?!
In desperation, Adam checked the weapon he currently had equipped. He opened his equipment window and stared at what he saw with ever widening and horrified eyes. He wanted to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, but he felt like if he did that, he would feel even worse when he realized this wasn’t a nightmare. That it was real.
Item Name: Rusted Spear
Level: 1
Experience points needed to level up: 0/5,000
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: Strength+10; Physical Attack+10