Damien honestly couldn’t fully believe his luck. It wasn’t to say Damien was an unlucky human, but if he was honest with himself, He was. Taking a long, drawn-out sigh, he had a small smile creeping on his face as he examined the translucent glowing screen.

  *WINNER!*

  *Godly Artifact Received!*

  *SHARK TOOTH!*

  *Shark Tooth +2 Intelligence

  *+2 Wisdom

  *+Int+Wisdom=Damage modifier with weapon

  Slowly the weapon began forming from thin air, the pixels slowly warping around, like tiny micro bots building it in a sci-fi movie. The handle was a sturdy black leather wrap, the blade bulged out from the handle creating a massive broad sword like you'd see in anime or video games. It was rigged on one side that looked like shark teeth that could cut through steel. The other side of the sword was smooth and sharp for slicing. The base of the sword near the sharp blade had small carve indentions almost like a place to hold capsules. The handle had some buttons on it as well that opened the capsules.

  Damien stood in awe as he flipped the blade left and right, it had some balance too it thankfully, but it looked like it would have been too heavy for him to hold. Playing with the buttons the four indentations for the capsule rotated open then closed. Another button shot the bottom of the handle open revealing another storage space. He didn’t really have anything he could hide in these places, but it was a little bit of a comfort to know that they existed. Something he could possibly use at a later time.

  While examining the stats he did realize one thing, for this weapon he wouldn’t need strength. It ran off intelligence and wisdom, he wasn’t sure if that was really what he was aiming for stat wise but he would lean into it for the time being and focus on his other stats at a later date.

  With the sword equipped, he noticed a few things that peaked his interest off the bat. He felt his brain slowly form at a little bit higher function. Most people probably wouldn’t have realized themselves getting smarter, but since it was instant for Damien he felt the gears begin spinning at a rapid pace making the world around him move semi-slower.

  It wasn’t a bad thing though, he was just able to analyze slightly quicker. The second thing, with an on-will thought, the sword began dissolving down the blade across the handle and into the palm of his hand. Slowly the metallic liquid sucked back up into his skin and with it the sword was gone. When he thought about re-equipping it the sword reformed liquid seeping from his palms into a firm handle as the blade formed from handle up.

  Damien contemplated this for a few seconds having the handle go in and out of his palm, he even tried to not seriously summon it. It didn’t work. “Can I not summon the blade whenever I want?” Damien contemplated tapping his finger to his chin.

  Before much else could be asked or contemplated, there was a knock on the door sending the blade rushing into the palm of his hand out of pure panic from him.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Damien? Hon, you in there?” The voice of his mother rang out. The door knob turned and the door opened to Damien awkwardly standing in the middle of his room like nothing had happened. “Hi mom.” He said with a softness to his voice, he always felt frozen hen talking to his mom. He never really knew what to talk to her about, probably the teenage awkward angst that filled him.

  “Hey hun, I wanted to say thank you.” His mom said as she smiled sweetly.

  ‘Thank you?’ He blinked a few times.

  “The house is beautiful, you made it spotless! It was such a pleasant surprise!”

  “Oh, yeah, no problem.” Damien responded, he hadn’t even noticed or really paid attention that much. He didn’t realize that the house had actually been cleaned. Slowly looking around his bedroom was when he also noticed it. Posters were hung up right, his skateboard was under his bed. Clothes folded and looked like they had gone through the washer and dryer.

  Quickly he moved past his mom and looked through the house. He couldn’t believe it, the floors polished, the stains on furniture gone, the windows scrubbed, things were up right dust was removed. Damien even got hit but the fresh warm earth smell with a hint of spice as if someone just like Frankincense. The aroma thick, the house shimmering with beauty, ‘this system is amazing.’ He told himself.

  “Yeah, I'm so glad you liked it.” He said quickly walking to the fridge and grabbing some water from it. His voice still tender, he didn’t wanna look suspicious so he drank the glass in one big gulp to regain composure. “I got such an amazing son!” His mother exclaimed and swung her arms around him hugging him tightly.

  ‘Wonderful.’ Damien thought and softly hugged her back. He couldn’t help but to crack a smile in return, her words definitely made him relax a little bit into the words. Slowly though, the wheels of his brain erased that relaxation and reminded him, ‘if it was true why is it only now with the system I'm doing this.’

  The words pierced himself with a knife,

  *Emotional Damage conflicted to self.

  *Motivation disadvantage.

  ‘Good job Damien.’

  Damien's mom spent the following hour cooking one of the most common Drake household foods. Spaghetti, with some ground up sausage. It was a staple for their house. It was cheap, easy, and while Damien was sick of it he knew it wasn’t much else to eat besides that. Besides the reminder that the quest had paid him 50$. ‘Will all the quests pay me?’ He wondered as he slowly slid his hand into his pocket feeling the bills in his pocket.

  Damien sat in the kitchen quietly with his mother, since they were both home it was the least he could do for some bonding. It was almost absolutely silent the entire time except for her humming. This wasn’t a new thing though, he never really had much going on for conversation with his parents.

  There were some slurping noises as Damien slurped up the plate of spaghetti, he reached out and sipped the water as he didn’t look up at her. The quietness lingered, the contemplation of what he wanted to do or what he could do if the system was going to pay him. “You work tonight?” He finally asked, breaking the tension that was lingering between the two of them.

  “Only an extra four hours.” She responded by giving him a weak but semi-happy smile. ‘Only,’ Damien thought he finished his plate wiping his mouth clean and continued thinking about everything that had happened in the last few hours. He knew only a few things for sure.

  1: He can do quests but time doesn't stop.

  2: He has actual money in his pocket from the quests

  The biggest thing he learned though, he had no idea how this was possible or what was going on. All he knew was it was real.