[Something unprecedented has happened.]
[A Legend has been created.]
[Congratulations! You have achieved something tinkerers around the world can only dream of. You have created a Homunculus.]
[This achievement fulfills the requirement for your class's next rating. 'Golem Maker' has been upgraded to Unique. Golems with classes can now grow up to Legendary rating.]
[Requirement for Legendary rating: create 5 legendary beings. Legendary beings created: 1/5.]
I slowly stopped crying and looked down at the homunculus I'd made to mimic my daughter.
Clarity came into her eyes. She looked up at me. Her first word nearly broke my heart right then and there.
"Papa!"
She jumped into my arms.
I started crying again, and this time I didn't hold back. I let all of it out. She didn't seem to mind. She just held on to my neck with both arms, the way she used to when she was scared of thunder, and patted my back with one small hand like I was the one who needed comforting.
I suppose I was.
A few hours later, I looked at her status. She had the same first name as my daughter in real life, with a different last name.
Name: Juliet Daedalus
Level: 1
Race: Homunculus
Class: Magical Berserker Princess
Has a chance to add magical elements to each attack.Every time health drops by 1%, physical and magical attack and defense increase by 5%.At 70% health, attack and agility increase by 30%.At 50% health, attack, defense and agility increase by 45%.At 30% health, attack, defense, agility and indomitable increase by 60%.At 10% health, 50% of max health is restored, and attack, defense, agility, courage and indomitable increase by 100%.
Title: [One Who Was Created to Be a Legend]
Abnormal conditions have no effect.Will not be recalled when health is at its minimum. (12-hour cooldown)Easily acknowledged.Can always be seen by her creator, no matter where she is.
Title: [Daughter of the Golem Creator]
Raises likeability with all golem-type entities by 300%.Raises nearby golems' attack and defense by 10% every three minutes. Stacks up to 30 times.Receives extra bonuses when patted on the head.Gains a 10% stat boost when acknowledged by the Golem Creator.
Title: [First Created Legend]
Likeability with already-established Legends decreases by 50%.Likeability with created Legends increases by 100%.All stats +100.
I almost fainted when I read it. I kept Juliet in my arms, with Fenrir on my head, as I introduced her to everyone.
Fenrir climbed down my arm to get a closer look. He and Juliet stared at each other, nose to nose, for a very long moment. Then she patted his head, exactly the way I pat his head.
"Big brother," she said, very seriously.
Fenrir's ears went straight up, and his tail started going so hard he nearly fell off my arm.
[Everywhere Else in Satisfy]
[A Legend has been created.]
All of Satisfy saw this announcement, and it mystified them. It was different from the last announcement about a legend being born. Most of the player base wanted to find out who this legend was. Others, specifically the other miracle players, put it behind them and focused on their own goals. All except one.
"Did he actually manage to do it this soon?"
[S.A. Group]
"Impossible!" Lim Cheolho said. "He shouldn't have been able to make a legend this early. What could possibly have triggered this?"
The owner and creator of Satisfy went around in circles searching for an answer that not even Morpheus could find. That was when Morpheus decided to treat the golems Daz creates as NPCs.
Little did the super AI know what kind of storm that would brew in the future. One thing was certain: Grid was no longer the only new legend in Satisfy.
[Daz's POV]
After everything settled down, I was in the smithy with Juliet on my lap and Fenrir on my head. Torva was determined to make Juliet a pair of amazing swords and some good armor.
I found out that Juliet grows as she levels. She'll stop growing around level 100, then start again around level 300. At level 100 she'll look like a teenage version of herself, which was what I was aiming for.
I'll be honest. Part of me wanted her to stay small forever. My Juliet never got older than seven. The bigger part of me wanted to see what she would have looked like at fifteen, at twenty, at all the ages she never got to be. That part won.
I also didn't tell Agnus yet. I wanted to wait until I'd made a golem in the image of the love of my life. Agnus is trying to do the same thing with undead. I won't believe for a second that I'll be able to make her anytime soon, though. Making Juliet was sheer luck.
I'm still not sure that's true. I'm not sure it was luck. But it's easier to say it was.
Torva finished one epic sword and one unique sword, and outfitted Juliet with some armor. Juliet spun in a circle to show everyone, almost took off Joul's ear with the unique sword, and apologized to Joul by patting her head too. Joul allowed it.
That settled it. My daughter needed levels, and she needed them somewhere I could watch every second of it.
I had five golem teams mobilize with us, and Juliet and I rode Fenrir toward the canyon.
I didn't care if people saw me anymore. One third of my goal was complete, and that was good enough. And I had Fenrir to protect Juliet if it came to that. We all still wore the signature masks, of course.
The mask was a little hard to see out of. I kept tipping it up to look at Juliet, sitting in front of me on Fenrir's back with both hands buried in his fur, laughing every time he jumped a ravine.
She laughed exactly the same.