Watershore’s docks were not what Adam would consider big, but there was at least enough room to fit several medium-sized boats that were about fifty yards long from bow to stern. All the ships were made of wood and looked like ancient vessels from a bygone era, which fit with the fantasy setting. As the breeze caused his hair to billow, carrying the salty scent of the sea to his nose, Adam nervously tapped one foot impatiently on the wooden dock as he waited for Aris to arrive.
“Where is she?” he asked himself.
He wasn’t looking for an answer, but he got one anyway.
“She will arrive when she arrives. Be more patient. It takes six hours to reach Watershore from the Village of Beginnings, and the one we came from was probably one of the closer ones. If she came from a village that is further away, it will take even longer,” Titania said.
Adam wanted to scowl at the little fairy sitting on his shoulder, but he knew this wasn’t her fault. He cursed the game mechanics that dealt with travel. Why did traveling take so long? It took several real-life days just to reach the magic academy, and now he was learning that it took them six hours to get from the Village of Beginnings to Watershore?
“Come to think of it, I did log off for several hours when I was in that boat,” Adam muttered.
“And then we were attacked by pirates while you were in your original world,” Titania said with a scowl.
Adam couldn’t do much more than smile helplessly at the now irate fairy, whose glare was pretty potent for such a tiny woman.
Today was the day that Aris would be leaving the Village of Beginnings and traveling to Watershore. The other members of his party had wanted to be present, but Adam asked them to wait for him at Solum. It was selfish. However, Adam wanted to be the first person who Aris saw, and he wanted to form a party with her by himself.
Well, that was the plan, except Kureha and Titania could not actually be away from him. Kureha was his pet and Titania could not be removed from his party. He was making exceptions for them out of consideration for their circumstances.
“It’s already been several weeks since we first arrived here in Watershore,” Adam muttered. “It’s kind of crazy when you think about it.”
“It does not feel like much time has passed, does it?” asked Titania.
“You’re right about that. It feels like only a few days have gone by, but it’s actually been more than a month since I first started playing Age of Gods.”
“Age of Gods?” Titania questioned with a tilted head.
It took Adam a moment to realize that she didn’t know that Age of Gods was the name of this game, which made sense. NPCs weren’t supposed to know they were just creations in a video game. Titania was also so realistic that he sometimes forgot she wasn’t real.
“Yip! Yip!”
As Adam was debating what he should tell Titania, Kureha began excitedly yipping. She was sitting by his legs. He leaned down and began stroking the fur on her head, which she seemed to appreciate because she nuzzled his hand and made several mrring sounds that were like happy fox noises.
“What is it, Kureha?” he asked.
“Yip!”
Kureha raised a paw and pointed at something in the distance. Outlined by the setting sun, an object was approaching them from the ocean. Adam raised his head, placed a hand over it to shield his eyes, and squinted. The object was, of course, a small vessel made of wood, with a black sail that had… a pirate symbol on it?!
“Is that a pirate ship?!” Titania asked in alarm.
“It looks like it,” Adam muttered. “Are pirates allowed to dock in Watershore?”
“Of course not!” Titania scowled. “You think any respectable city would let a pirate ship dock with them? Not only would they lose all their business, but they would probably lose their lives as well.”
“So what is this about?”
“How should I know?!”
While Adam and Titania were talking, the many people who manned the docks were panicking. Dockworkers were running all over the wooden deck and some had rushed into town. Adam heard the scream of “Pirates!” from more than a few people. A few minutes later, a large group of soldiers gathered. All of them were dressed in steel armor, were at level 30, and were armed to the teeth.
As the pirate ship came closer, Adam was able to make out the ship’s features in greater detail—the black scoring from what must have been a fire or some other form of damage on the hull, and the small tears in the sails like someone had sliced through them with a knife. There was also a person standing at the very bow. The closer the ship came, the more distinct that person became.
“Hold on… that’s…” Adam’s eyes widened.
The person standing near the ship’s bow was a young woman dressed in clothes that didn’t resemble armor at all. It looked more like the kind of outfit a belly dancer might wear. Her skirt traveled down to her ankles, but slits were traveling up both sides, revealing a good amount of leg. Likewise, her top looked like classic bikini armor, the kind found in games that were popular during the early 2000s. It didn’t cover her soft stomach at all, and it showed a more than generous portion of her cleavage and underboob. Strapped across her back was a pair of curved swords. The only reason Adam even knew this person was because of the veil she wore to hide her face.
“Adam! Hey, Adam!”
She was also yelling his name and waving at him.
“Is that Aris?” asked Titania as she placed a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun.
“It is!” Adam exclaimed in surprise, though he frowned at her wardrobe. “What is she wearing?”
The ship soon came into the dock. All the soldiers gathered around, swords at the ready. Adam, Titania, and Kureha stood on the dock near where the ship had stopped and watched silently as a boarding plank was extended. In the next moment, what appeared on top of that boarding plank was not a pirate, but a young girl rushing down on swift feet.
“Adam!!!”
Aris moved so fast that Adam barely had time to catch her. Even when he did, she plowed into him so hard he was nearly knocked off his feet. She moved in practically a blur! One second was on top of the ship, and the next she was in his arms, her own wrapped tightly around him.
“Aris,” Adam muttered as he realized this truly was his Aris. Adam was able to recognize Aris by her body alone. He had held her, dressed her, bathed her, and massaged her body for years. There was not a single spot on her body that he had not touched. If a thousand veiled women were to gather together, he was confident he’d be able to pick her out of the crowd.
Not only did he recognize Aris by her figure, but he recognized the scent of her hair. It was the same scent she had in real life. In fact, the Aris in his arms right now was indistinguishable from her real-life self. Scent, figure, feel. Everything about her was the same.
It’s unbelievable that this game can create someone with such an astounding degree of accuracy and realism.
“I can’t believe I finally get to see you in the game,” Aris said, setting her chin on his chest to look at him. He could not see her face, but he knew she was smiling. “Hee-hee. Isn’t it exciting?”
“It’s very exciting,” Adam said with a smile of his own.
The world felt like it had disappeared around the two as they gazed into each other’s eyes. It was the only part of them that was visible behind their headgear, but Adam could recognize Aris’s beautiful blue eyes anywhere. He was sure they would have kissed by now if she wasn’t wearing that veil and him a mask.
However, as with all good things, this reunion had to eventually end.
“Ahem. Ah. Miss Aris—er, no, Lady Aris, do you require our assistance for anything else?”
A voice spoke up from somewhere, and Adam looked up to realize a pirate was standing on the boarding plank. He was a tall, gangly man. His beard was thick, but not to the same thickness as the pirate that Adam fought and killed. He had a black and white coat, wearing what could be considered the qui
ntessential pirate garb. He even had a hook for a right hand.
The information screen above his head said his name was Davy Jones.
“Oh!” Aris removed herself from Adam’s embrace and looked at the pirate. “I don’t need any more help. Thank you. You can leave now.” After speaking, Aris narrowed her eyes, spread her feet shoulder-width apart, placed her hands on her hips, and thrust out her chest. “However, if I hear about you attacking ships again, I am going to be very upset with you.”
“D-d-don’t worry, Lady Aris!” The pirate waved both hand and hook back and forth in a panicked gesture. His face looked to have had all the blood drained from it. “W-we already promised you we was going to turn over a new leaf, arg? I’m a man o’ me word.”
There was something odd about this man and his reaction. Maybe it was the blush on his gnarled cheeks. Maybe it was the infatuation in his eyes. Maybe it was just a whole bunch of things. Call Adam crazy, but he was almost positive this pirate wannabe NPC was gazing at his Aris as if she was the sole center of the universe.
He narrowed his eyes at the man.
“Good,” Aris said with a decisive nod. “Then you can go.”
Adam had no idea what was going on, and neither did the confused soldiers, or the equally curious Titania and Kureha. All they could do was watch this interaction between Aris and Davy Jones. When the pirate captain went back into his ship and began shouting, “Ye heard the lass, ya scurvy curs! Get yer useless arses moving!” Adam finally couldn’t withhold his curiosity.
“What was all that about?” he asked.
“Hee-hee.” Grinning as she spun around to face him, Aris placed her hands behind her back and leaned forward. “When I was on my way here, that group of pirates attacked the ship I was on, so I beat them up.”
There was silence. Adam thought he heard a seagull cry out in the distance.
“You... beat them up?” Adam asked dully.
Aris nodded. “Uh-huh. And then after I beat them up, they all got down on their knees and begged me for mercy. They said they would do anything I asked if I stopped beating them, so I asked them to send me to Watershore and give up their pirating ways.” She paused, looking thoughtful. “They didn’t start calling me Lady Aris until about halfway here though. I’m not sure what that was about.”
Adam had no response to her words, but when he thought about it, this did sound kind of like something she would do. The Aris he knew from before she got Mortems Disease was adventurous, mischievous, and not someone you crossed unless you were stupid. While she never picked fights, she was the kind of girl who’d never stand for someone bullying others and would always intervene. It had gotten him into a lot of trouble on any number of occasions.
He still remembered how some boy’s parents had complained because he’d broken their son’s arm. As if that was Adam’s fault. That boy should not have tried to touch his Aris.
Aris also had a mysterious air about her. People who got to know her couldn’t help but become enamored. It was that very atmosphere she surrounded herself with, albeit unknowingly, that had drawn Adam to her.
Before doing anything else, Adam and Aris explained the situation to the soldiers who had arrived. The soldiers all stared at Aris like she wasn’t human. Of course, quite a few of them gulped when they noticed how skimpy her clothing was. Adam scowled when he noticed a number of them looking at Aris’s chest, stomach, or legs. Once that was done, it was finally time for introductions.
“Aris, this is Titania,” Adam said with a gesture toward the little fairy fluttering above them. She had been forced to leap away when Aris glomped him.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” Aris said.
“It is a pleasure to meet you as well,” Titania replied. “Adam has told me a lot about you.”
“Ah? He has?” Aris looked from Titania to Adam.
“He has spoken about the woman he loves many times,” Titania confirmed.
“Hee-hee. That makes me kind of embarrassed,” Aris admitted, though it was hard to tell if she was actually embarrassed. If he didn’t want to keep players seeing her face, he would have already asked her to remove that veil so he could see whether she was blushing or not.
“And this little fox right here is Kureha,” Adam said, pointing at the fox yokai sitting at his feet and wagging her two tails.
Aris looked down at the fox. There were exactly five seconds of silence. Then she squealed.
“Awww! She’s so cute! You said she’s a fox yokai? That’s like those Japanese shapeshifters, right? Does that mean she has a human form? What does her human form look like? Is she a beautiful young woman or a little girl?”
Scooping the fox into her arms, Aris bombarded Adam with all kinds of questions. She was so excited that Adam thought he saw stars in her eyes.
“Calm down.” Adam raised his hands in a gesture to make her settle down. “I can’t answer those questions if you don’t let me.” Aris calmed down immediately after he spoke, but she kept her gaze locked firmly on him. “Yes, she is a fox yokai like the kind from those Japanese cartoons we used to watch. She does have human form, but her level isn’t high enough for her to transform, so I don’t know what it looks like. Anyway, now that you’re here, we should head over to the mayor’s house so you can receive a request.”
“Ah. Right. Okay. Yeah, let’s do that.” Aris nodded several times. “We can keep talking on the way to visit the mayor.”
“Maybe you should add her to your party first,” Titania suggested.
“You’re right. I should do that.”
Nodding at the woman’s logical suggestion, Adam sent Aris an invitation to join his party, which she accepted immediately, and then the two of them were off. Kureha leaped from Aris’s arms and made herself comfortable on Adam’s head. Aris pouted a little, but then she became enamored with their conversation as the two of them shared their in-game experiences so far.
Adam enjoyed the way Aris looked around at the village with her sparkling blue eyes. It was so refreshing to see her acting excited and jovial instead of the soft-spoken and delicate girl she was before.
“I almost forgot, you mentioned you gained a new class. Mind if I see it?” asked Adam.
Aris beamed at him. “Of course you can. Do you mind if I look at your class?”
“Feel free.”
Now that he had her permission, Adam opened his in-game window and clicked on his party members. He scrolled down until he reached Aris’s name and pressed it to bring up her stats.
What he found was shocking.
Name: Aris_Lancer
Class: Blade Dancer
Lvl: 11
SP: 0
AP; 6,000
Experience: 64,890/153,600
Reputation: 15,000
Strength: +60
Constitution: +95
Dexterity: +100
MP: +20
Speed: +6,400
Physical Attack: +635
Health: 660/660
Hit-Rate: 100%
MP: 240/240
Movement: +51,200
Luck: +10
Physical Defense: +290
Magical Defense: +290
Dodge-Rate: 100%
Magic Attack: +20
Skills:
Skill Name: Slashing
Description: A basic skill where the player swings his or her sword and attacks the enemy!
Current lvl: 5 MAXED
Ability: Causes 150% damage to enemy if it hits
MP Cost: 1
Cooldown time: 0 seconds
Skill Name: Thrust
Description: A basic skill where the player thrusts his or her sword at the enemy!
Current lvl: 5 MAXED
Ability: Causes 160% damage with a 10% chance at getting a critical hit
MP Cost: 5
Cooldown time: 1 second
Skill Name: Blade Dance
Description: A skill unique to the player Aris_Lancer. Allows for continuous attacks wit
hout pause.
Current lvl: 5
AP needed to reach lvl 6: 64,000
Ability: Can constantly attack and hit every time without pausing to use another attack
Chances of landing a critical strike is 25%
MP Cost: 5 MP per attack
Cooldown time: 30 seconds
Skill Name: Double Slash
Description: User attacks with both weapons at the same time.
Current lvl: 1
AP needed to reach lvl 2: 4,000
Ability: Deals x2 damage
MP Cost: 100
Cooldown time: 15 seconds
Skill Name: Tornado Dance
Description: A sword technique where the player spins around and attacks everyone surrounding them.
Current lvl: 1
AP needed to reach lvl 2: 3,000
Ability: 100% damage all enemies surrounding player
MP Cost: 50
Cooldown time: 20 seconds
Skill Name: Dancing Swords
Description: A sword technique that lets the user attack with four thrusts one after the other in quick succession.
Current lvl: 1
AP needed to reach lvl 2: 4,000
Ability: Deals 200% damage with every successful attack
Damage is stacked
MP Consumption 50
Cooldown time: 15 seconds
Equipment:
Item Name: Blade Dancer Falchions x2
Item Type: Sword
Grade: 4-Star
Use Requirements: Can only be equipped by Blade Dancers
Description: These swords were once wielded by an aspiring hero. They were forged by the dwarves and given to a man who aided them in their time of need.
Abilities: Physical Attack+200 x2; Speed+200 x2
Item Name: Blade Dancer Sandals
Item Type: Clothing
Grade: 4-Star
Use Requirements: Can only be equipped by Blade Dancers
Description: The sandals of a Blade Dancer do not provide much protection, but they do provide a boost to speed.
Abilities: Defense+50; Magic Defense+50; Speed+200%
Item Name: Blade Dancer Top
Item Type: Clothing
Grade: 4-Star
Use Requirements: Can only be equipped by Blade Dancers
Man Made God 003 Page 16
