Man Made God 002

by Brandon Varnell

  Elite assassins didn’t make the best conversationalists.

  “No, don’t worry. I know this isn’t your fault,” Adam assured her. “But I do think we need to figure out a way to raise your current stats. Titania, can you think of how to help them?”

  Everyone turned their attention to the tiny fairy, who was not sitting at the table because she was too small. She was instead sitting on top of the table with her legs crossed as she slowly munched on a small piece of bread. Upon hearing the question, she swallowed what she was eating and looked at everyone present.

  “There are several ways to raise your stats,” she explained, coughing into her hand before continuing. “The first and most obvious way is to simply raise your level. Every time you level up, you gain status points, which you can allocate into your various stats for a permanent increase. However, you only get a limited amount of status points each time you level up, so this method is incredibly slow and something you need to work on over time.”

  “The other method is finding good equipment that can boost your stats, right?” Adam said.

  Titania nodded at him. “That is certainly one method, yes. Powerful equipment can boost your stats. I know that right now, Adam is wearing several powerful pieces of equipment, which gives him an incredible boost to almost every stat, except Dexterity and Intelligence. Some equipment will boost your primary stats like Strength, Speed, Constitution, Dexterity, and Intelligence, but others might boost your secondary stats like Physical Attack, Health, Hit-Rate, Magic Points, Movement, and so on. The most powerful pieces of equipment are usually the ones that boost your primary stats since those also affect your secondary stats.”

  Fayte shifted in her seat. Adam wished he could see beyond her veil to know what kind of expression she was making. Taking a deep breath, she placed a hand on the table and began tapping her finger against it. The steady thump, thump echoed around them briefly as the woman considered Titania’s words.

  “I understand what you are saying, but finding good equipment isn’t that easy. We’ve only been able to find the equipment we have now thanks to the quests we took in the Village of Beginnings, and none of it is what I would call great.”

  “You three are actually in luck,” Adam admitted. “While I don’t have equipment for everyone, I did stumble upon some equipment for the Mage class during my time in the Village of Beginnings.”

  After saying this, Adam removed the [Staff of Darkness] and [Cloak of Despair] from his item pouch. He handed both items to Fayte, who looked shocked to receive something from him so soon after their first in-game meeting. She became even more surprised after she checked out the stats on both items.

  “This… this equipment has the highest star rating I’ve seen!” she shouted in surprise.

  “You remember that [Necromancer] I told you about?” Adam gestured toward the equipment. “When I defeated it, this is what it dropped.” He shrugged. “I’m not a Mage, and while I could have sold it, I kept it in case it turned out to be better than what you currently have equipped.”

  “Thank you,” Fayte murmured before pressing the equipment to herself.

  There was a brief flash of light before the equipment appeared on her. The cloak was a pure black item that emanated a dark aura. Adam would even go so far as to say it felt evil, but this equipment was still better than anything else she possessed. Similarly, the [Staff of Darkness] was another evil item, but again, it granted her numerous boosts to some of her stats and even gave her a skill to raise the dead.

  “It looks like my stats, particularly my Intelligence and Magic Attack, have all received a huge increase,” Fayte announced.

  “That’s not the only benefit to wearing equipment like this,” Titania added. “While your primary stats are being boosted by that equipment, you will gain more benefits every time you level up. The next time your level increases, you should receive a lot more magic points than you normally would since your Intelligence stat is much higher”

  “I guess having good equipment is definitely a must,” Fayte sighed.

  “B-but how can we find good equipment?” asked Susan.

  “I’m sure there are item shops, weapon shops, and blacksmiths here in Solum that sell better equipment than what you currently have, but I don’t think they will grant you a huge boost to your primary stats, which is what we want,” Adam said.

  Titania agreed with him. “The best way to find excellent equipment is to either take on a quest, explore new locations, or go dungeon crawling.” She paused. “Of course, there is another method of increasing your stats that I haven’t mentioned yet.”

  “What method?” asked Fayte.

  Everyone else was focused intently on the little fairy as she stood there with her hands on her hips. She didn’t seem bothered by how everyone else towered over her.

  “You’re talking about hidden classes, right?” asked Adam.

  Titania nodded. “That’s right. Hidden classes are the greatest way to permanently increase your stats. A hidden class is better than any class you can gain naturally. Of course, you could go to a trainer and change your current class to something better, or wait until you reach level 50 and upgrade your class, but doing either of those tings won’t be as good as getting a hidden class, which will always and without fail provide a massive boost to all your stats.”

  While there was no disputing her words, what Titania failed to mention was how difficult it was to find a hidden class. There was a reason they had the word “hidden” in their name. Adam was lucky to have discovered his hidden class by sheer coincidence. How many other people could be as lucky as him?

  “Let’s shelve the idea of hidden classes for now,” Adam said. “It sounds like dungeon raids are the best way to get equipment, but the only dungeon we know of is located in the Forest of Gloom, and we’re not strong enough to defeat the [Spider Queen] right now, so that’s out.” Adam crossed his arms. “I also don’t think our levels are high enough to explore too many areas at the moment. However, I did receive a quest from the Mayor of Solum, asking me to explore a place called the Deadlands and find out why the dead are rising in that area.”

  “And you think this is what we should do right now?” asked Fayte.

  “Yes.” As Adam gave her a nod, Kureha pranced over to his plate, which still had some leftover kabobs. The little fox didn’t hesitate to eat the remainder of his food. He reached over and plucked the tiny thing from the table before setting her on his head. “I think that would be our best bet for gathering new equipment.”

  “A quest like this will always provide better equipment than simply wandering aimlessly. Of course, finding good equipment is a matter of luck more often than not.” Titania paused before adding. “Fortunately, we have a girl who has the [Luck] stat, so we should be able to receive some decent item drops. [Luck] plays a key role in the items dropped by monsters.”

  Everyone quickly agreed to the proposal of completing the quest Adam had received from the Mayor of Solum, but that was for their next session. They had already spent several hours within the game. It was time for everyone to log off.

  “Oh! I’d like to speak with you before you log off, Lilith,” Adam said.

  While Fayte and Susan gave him an odd look, Lilith only nodded at him and remained behind. After the two other women logged off, the beauty in black immediately knelt before him in deference like a knight kneeling before their liege.

  “Master, do you have a task for me?”

  Adam scratched his cheek… until he realized his mask was in the way. He briefly considered taking it off before deciding against it. There weren’t many people present, no one that he knew at least, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  “Sit down, please. I wanted to ask what your impressions are of Fayte and Susan.”

  Adam gestured to the table, an obvious invitation. Lilith hesitated for a moment before, with the grace only an assassin could possess, she stood up from her kneeling position and sat down beside
him.

  “Excuse me,” she muttered in a soft voice. After straightening her back, she stared at Adam with her seemingly cold eyes and answered in an icy voice. “From my observations, Fayte is a very determined and intelligent woman. It’s rare for someone who is only nineteen-years-old to have such a strong will.” She hesitated again, but Adam gestured for her to continue. “She reminds me of you in that regard. It left a very good impression on me.”

  That coincided with what Adam thought of the woman as well. It was good to know his impression of Fayte was accurate. He hadn’t been worried, per se, but he understood that Fayte could have been putting on an act for him. However, he didn’t think she’d put on an act around Susan since they were friends.

  “Susan is… very meek,” Lilith said at last. She hesitated like she was choosing her words with care. “I don’t have a very strong impression of her, but she seems like the kind of person who can’t tell others ‘no’ and will do something she dislikes just to make the people close to her happy.”

  Because he didn’t know Susan very well and couldn’t judge her from their first meeting, he needed to know Lilith’s opinion. What she said was pretty close to what Fayte had once told him. A young woman who couldn’t say “no” to others. Of course, Fayte had also added that Susan was highly intelligent and an amazing hacker to boot.

  While he was speaking to Lilith, Titania and Kureha watched the conversation in silence. Neither of them seemed to really understand why he was asking Lilith about their other two companions. Furthermore, Titania seemed greatly confused as to why Lilith was referring to him as “Master.” She even mouthed the word several times, her expression odd, like she’d been given a puzzle she couldn’t solve.

  “Thank you for letting me know your thoughts,” Adam said. “I feel reassured now. Get some rest. I plan on having us go on this quest later in the afternoon.”

  “Yes, Master,” Lilith said before logging off.

  “Adam,” Titania said in a soft voice before he could log off. “Why was that girl calling you ‘Master’?”

  “It’s a complicated story,” Adam said. “And not one I’m comfortable sharing right now. Maybe I’ll tell you later once we know each other a bit better.”

  Titania did not look at all pleased that he was not willing to tell her about his relationship with Lilith, but she didn’t have any choice other than to accept it. If she was willing to force the issue, then wouldn’t that mean she would also have to expose her own secrets? Everyone had something they weren’t willing to share with others. Everyone had some skeletons hidden in their closet.

  Lilith was probably his greatest skeleton.

  After setting Kureha onto the ground, Adam logged off and made his way into the living room. Fayte had already gotten started on making lunch. Adam glanced at the clock. It was 1:36pm, a little past noon. Since he didn’t want Fayte doing all the work herself, he joined her in the kitchen and set about making drinks and slicing up some fruits for them to eat along with the sandwiches his roommate was making. They ate together. Then Adam spent an hour sitting beside Aris before heading back into the game.

  He reappeared in the food court. Titania and Kureha were in pretty much the same place he left them. Titania had moved across the table and was sitting with her legs dangling over the edge, while Kureha was sleeping. There were two men next to her.

  “Hey there. You’re a fairy, right? Why don’t you join our party?”

  “You’re cute. I’d love it if you teamed up with us. I promise we’ll treat you well.”

  The men did not appear to mean any harm, but it did seem like they had been bothering Titania for some time. She had a large vein throbbing on her forehead.

  “Titania,” he called out as he walked over.

  “Ah. Adam. I’m glad you finally made it back.” Titania stood up and dusted herself off. “I hope your time back in your world was pleasant?”

  “It was. Thanks.”

  His casual conversation with Titania was enough to make the two men back off. They clicked their tongues and left.

  “I’m glad you came when you did. Had you arrived even a second later, I might have said something I’d come to regret,” Titania confessed.

  “Good thing I arrived in the nick of time then,” Adam joked.

  It only took a few minutes before the others appeared, first Fayte, then Lilith, and finally Susan. Once everyone was there, they headed toward the stables.

  Because Fayte, Lilith, and Susan did not have much money, Adam bought everyone a horse. They could have bought a wagon for all of them to fit in, but horses on their own were faster. Wagons slowed a horse down because it added a negative effect to their Speed stat. What he wanted right now was for them to hurry up and reach the town nearest to the Deadlands.

  The Deadlands were located one thousand miles west of Solum and about six hundred miles from Watershore. Traveling by foot would have taken a long time. The horses had a +300 Movement stat, meaning it would only take about ten hours to reach their destination… which was still a long time to be traveling by horse, but it was better than walking.

  During the journey, Adam discovered a new side to Fayte as she teased Susan over things that were happening to them in the real world. She reminded him of an older sister during these moments. Susan also responded just like an easily embarrassed younger sibling. At least, that was what he believed. It wasn’t like he had ever had a younger sister, and Aris had acted nothing like Susan when she was younger.

  His lover had been rather shameless even when she was a preteen.

  Lilith remained mostly quiet during the journey. However, when Adam decided to have Kureha ride on her horse, the woman nearly had a heart attack. It had been very amusing to watch her struggle against her desire to remain cool and her wish to hug the little fox yokai in her arms. Adam was certain he felt more amused watching her than he should have.

  Because it was a ten hour journey, they did not make it before the day ended. All of them logged off at around 5:00pm, Adam had dinner with Fayte, then spent a few hours playing video games with her.

  At around 8:00pm, he went into the game and did some grinding to increase his level. Of course, he did not increase his level at all, but his spear was less than +100,000 experience points away from reaching level 9.

  Since Adam only needed two hours of sleep to be at peak efficiency, he went to bed at around 3:00am and woke up at 5:00am. He spent another hour within the game, though this time he merely talked to Titania as Kureha nuzzled into his lap and slept while he stroked her fur. At around 8:00am, he ate breakfast with Fayte in the real world, and then all four of them logged onto Age of Gods and continued their journey.

  They reached Hope Village around mid-morning.

  Hope Village wasn’t as small as the Village of Beginnings, but it wasn’t as large as Watershore. Most of the houses were made of logs and possessed simple thatched roofs. If Adam had to guess, he would have said the roofs were made of straw and water reeds. The village had an earthy scent mixed with the smell of fresh water, which was likely because of the lake located in the center of the village. Trees intermixed with buildings to create the aesthetic of a village in harmony with nature.

  Adam noticed there were only a few people staying outdoors as he, Fayte, Lilith, Susan, Titania, and Kureha wandered through the streets. Most of the houses were also boarded up. While the sun was bright and the sky was blue, a sense of desolation hung over the small village.

  “What should we do now?” asked Fayte.

  “We need information,” Adam said. “Let’s check in with the mayor and ask if he knows anything about the Deadlands.”

  Everyone agreed that this was the best course of action, and so they asked one of the few people outside for directions to the Mayor’s house. The young woman they asked pointed at the largest building located right next to the lake. It was two stories but still modest. It looked nothing like the mansion that belonged to the mayors of Watershore and Solum. The ma
yor of Hope Village also didn’t have any guards outside to greet them.

  Adam and his companions climbed off their horses and knocked on the door. They didn’t have to wait long before a pretty woman with brown hair tied into a braid, brown eyes, and simple clothing made of earth-tone fabrics answered it.

  “Hello? Can I help you?” asked the woman, glancing at them all curiously. Her eyes lingered on Titania and Kureha, but she also looked oddly at Adam’s mask, Lilith’s mask, and Fayte’s veil.

  “Is the Mayor in?” asked Adam. “We wanted to ask about the Deadlands. You see, the Mayor of Solum asked us to discover why the dead have been returning from the grave.”

  The woman’s face paled when he mentioned the Deadlands, but she calmed down after he told her it was a request from Solum’s Mayor.

  “I understand. I am the Mayor of Hope Village. My name is Abigail Hope. Please, come in.”

  While Adam was a little surprised to learn that this seemingly modest woman was the mayor of Hope Village, he got over his shock quickly and entered the house with everyone else. The front door was attached to a living space. Adam and his companions were directed to a pair of couches, which were just large enough to comfortably fit four people. It was a good thing Kureha and Titania were so little. They might not have all been able to fit if those two had been bigger.

  Abigail brought them all some fresh tea. Adam couldn’t tell what kind it was, but it had a slightly bitter scent. When he looked at it, a screen popped up to display what kind of tea it was and its effects.

  Item Name: Bitter Tea

  Item Type: Drink

  Grade: 2-star

  Equipment Requirements: None

  Description: A bitter tea made from tea leaves found near Hope Village. They calm the mind.

  Abilities: Cures Confusion

  “You said you wanted to know about the Deadlands?” Abigail asked.