Second World

"You are a Goddess?" He blurted out towards the lady in white.

"That I am," she answered calmly.

Jack never expected to meet a God or Goddess this early. Other VR RPG games also had their own Gods and Goddesses. Usually, to encounter such a being would require tremendous luck or completing long and grueling quests.  Such beings were the highest tiered NPCs in a game. Thus, meeting one here was extremely unexpected.

"For the second gift, I will bestow you a special piece of equipment."

She made a hand gesture and a black metallic ball the size of a watermelon materialized. She grabbed it and offered it to Jack.

"I can't give you any rare tier equipment, but I can give you this specialized equipment," she said. "You will be able to choose the form you want it to take, but take note that you can only choose once. After the equipment takes form, it cannot be changed. This equipment is special as it can be grown. As long as you feed it with the same type of equipment, it can continue to get stronger. And it can also inherit the rarity of the equipment it is fed, and their skills. You can experiment on it to better learn its usage."

Jack received the ball. It was very light despite its size. He almost could not feel any weight from it. He inspected it using his God-eye Monocle.

Seed of Thousand Forms (Special consumable)

Choose 1 type of equipment to transform the seed into, will become growth-type equipment.

A holographic word appeared above the ball. It was written ACTIVATE.

He was just about to click on the word before he was interrupted by the Goddess.

"You can apply the transformation later," she said. "I will present you with the last gift."

'Damn, are you really in such a hurry?' He complained in his mind.

"For my last gift, I will bestow you with knowledge and guidance."

'Another vague gift,' Jack thought within.

The Goddess uttered a chant in an undecipherable language and twirled her hands in the air. Shining lines appeared out of nowhere and they intertwined to form a runic symbol that hung in the air.

'Wow,' Jack thought, 'the Goddess is giving quite a display for this last gift. It must be a high-quality gift!'

The Symbol twisted and transformed into a black hole. The hole radiated an aura that caused Jack to suffocate. He had to take a few steps back before he was freed from the effect. The hole turned into a bright light that formed a humanoid shape. The light shattered and revealed a tiny girl with two pairs of pink-colored dragonfly wings. Her arms and legs were bare, while her body was wrapped with a red dress that matched the color of her short hair.

'A fairy?' Jack stared at the floating creature in confusion. 'What does she have to do with knowledge?'

The fairy bowed to the Goddess and said in a respectful tone, "Greetings, Exalted One. Is there anything this humble servant can provide?"

The Goddess gestured towards Jack, "You will accompany Mr. Storm Wind here and provide him with counsel and guidance. You are not allowed to leave his side until otherwise commanded by him or me. Is this understood?"

"Yes, your Grace," the fairy made another bow. "I shall carry out your command."

'So she is giving me a tour guide,' Jack thought. 'Not bad.'

Hopefully, the Fairy could help him figure out how to get back to the real world.

"Now that everything's settled, I shall take my leave," the goddess said.

"Wait, wait!" Jack hurriedly called out again.

'Why were you in such a hurry, lady?' he wondered. 'Do you have an appointment somewhere?'

"Is there anything else you need, Mr. Storm Wind?" The goddess said with a hint of annoyance.

"There is a very strong monster outside. I almost lost my life getting past it to come in here. I will have to go back out again. Can you help me get rid of it? Ask it to go somewhere, or at least command it not to attack me? It will be a pity if I get killed accidentally on my way out."

The Goddess looked in the direction of the door. She said, "although I'm a Goddess, that creature out there is of the dark force. I hold no sway over it. And due to the rule handed down by the Ultimate Creator, we are not allowed to interfere directly under normal circumstances. So, you will have to deal with that monster yourself."

Jack was depressed after hearing it. He thought he could get an easy way out with the help of this Goddess.

'Guess I have to play tag again with the Lizardman. Shouldn't be too difficult. The other door is not locked, so, as long as I can reach it, I should be fine.' Jack tried to convince himself.

"However," the Goddess continued. "I could bless you with a boost for a limited time. A small temporary favor like this is not against the rules."

She twirled her hands again. Another series of lights appeared and wrapped around Jack's body. A luminous coating was left on top of his skin, as if he was wearing a half-visible full-body suit. He felt powerful energy resting in his body. He felt lighter, and all his fatigue was gone. He felt energetic. He opened his status window and found a temporary skill under his skill window.

Godly Might (Temporary passive skill)

Duration: 1 hour

Grant 100% increase to all attributes.

Increase damage by 100%.

All damage received reduced by 70%

Regenerate 10 HP each second.

Increase Stamina/MP regeneration by 300%

All skills' cooldown decreased to 50%

'Hot damn!' He exclaimed in his mind, 'with this boost, I am practically invincible.  Unless, of course, my opponent was way higher in level than that Lizardman.'

"Well, if there is no other issue, you will have to excuse me," the Goddess said.

"Wait, wait!" Jack interjected.

"What now?" A more obvious hint of annoyance could be heard from the Goddess' tone.

"Well, I really not sure what I should be doing next. Since you are a Goddess, can you give me any hint about what I should do or where I should go? I must say that I'm absolutely clueless here."

The Goddess looked at him intently, as if she could peer into his soul.

"You are already level 10," she said. "Oh? You have another class? How is that possible?"

Jack was astonished. It seemed the Goddess could perceive his data just like his God-Eye monocle.

"I got the second class from a Legendary item called Second Soul Remnant," he informed her.

"Second Soul Remnant? I have no knowledge of such a thing. Could it be…" The Goddess was lost in thought.

Jack waited patiently, expecting the Goddess to give him some directions. Instead, after she came back from her thought, she just looked at him and said, "Since you are already level 10. The others should not be far behind. You will receive your clues soon."

"Others?" Jack was confused.

"I will leave now. Take care. If you become stronger, our paths will cross again." The Goddess' feet left the ground and she slowly started floating.

"But…" Jack was about to protest, but the Goddess' body started to turn translucent rapidly, and, in the end, she vanished completely from the room.

Jack looked around.

"Crap!" He cursed. "She left just like that."

He felt a sharp tap at the back of his head. He turned around and saw the Fairy.

"You were very rude considering who you were talking to," she reprimanded. "Don't you know she is one of the almighty Goddesses? She could turn you into a frog if she desired. You are lucky she was in a good mood."

"Of course she was, I just saved her life after all," Jack said smugly.

The Fairy flew above his head and gave him another hard slap.

"Ouch!"

"You dare disrespect me as well? Don't you know how lucky you are to have me as a companion?"

"I know I'll doubt that I was lucky if you keep hitting me."

"Hmph!" She folded her arms and turned away from him.

'Arrgh...! What did I get here?' He thought in his mind.

It seemed he hadn't had any good luck in meeting new people since he came to this game world. The first guy he met died just seconds later. The second guy lasted just a few hours. The third and fourth guys wanted to kill and rob him. The fifth person turned out to be an NPC, a Goddess no less, who left as abruptly as she appeared. The last one was a moody fairy.

'Well, as they say, beggars can't be choosers.'