《Stuck as a Level One Swordsman》


 Chapter 1 - Beta Test

    A man with a clipboard held the door open. He peered into the badly lit room. Rows of plastic chairs lined up in this shabby waiting room. There were plenty of empty chairs with only a few people scattered throughout the room.


    ¡°Group eleven? Group eleven?¡±


    He started calling out for the next group. I look down at the card in my hand. I tried to shined line on the card as I sat next to one of the only windows in the room. The card matched with the number that the man called out.


    ¡°Line up and then follow me.¡±


    The man with the clipboard counted the people on line and then walked through the door. The people on line started whispering.


    ¡°I can¡¯t wait.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s finally happening.¡±


    I kept to myself but I also was excited. My hands started shaking and my legs trembled with every step. Others were jumpy with an uncontrollable smile.


    There were various types of people on this line. From different ages and clothing. Some appeared to be as little as ten years old and others as late in their thirties. I was only wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans. Others were wearing jumpsuits or fancy clothing.


    We entered a bright room. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I see rows of chairs with a familiar machine next to it. Everyone sat down in their assigned chairs labeled in their cards. I sat down on the twenty-fourth chair.


    I put on the machine on my head as instructed by a young woman that sat beside me as my observer. I plugged in the necessary plugs and switches. It wasn¡¯t too complicated as I have a similar model.


    Once activated, I dived into virtual reality. A simple menu room appeared. I was prompted to log-in to my account and put in my name, ¡°John Frost.¡± Then I input my password.


    A voice can be heard, ¡°John? It¡¯s me.¡± It was my observer. She was to keep track of my time during this beta test to collect data.


    ¡°Okay, there should be a new program popping up right about¡­ now.¡±


    I looked around and notice a new menu button appearing. It read ¡®Strife of Celestials.¡¯ I immediately press on the button and the world warped around me.


    Instantly a cabin appeared in front of me. I found myself in the middle of a forest. Birds were chirping and the sun shined through the leaves of the trees. I could smell the dirt and feel the plants brushing on my legs as I walked.


    I was wearing the generic clothing for any VR program. Just a simple tank top and tight shorts. It was to avoid nudity in almost every VR program.


    Inside the cabin was a bunch of tables with various clothing and weapons.


    ¡°Here, you can try out the equipment menu as well as the inventory. Try it out.¡±


    I walked over to the clothing. It was a simple white shirt along with a leather vest. I knew I could just wave my hand and a menu would pop up in the air. I looked closely to search for the equipment menu.


    ¡°You could also just wear the clothing too. It¡¯s a feature you couldn¡¯t do in a traditional game.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I whispered to myself. I then took the clothes and put it on.


    I walked over to the table with weapons. There were various swords and shields. I couldn¡¯t tell the difference so I took one that looked pretty generic. It appeared to be a medieval sword.


    ¡°It¡¯s actually light,¡± I said while waving the sword around.


    ¡°We want to make combat easy to access,¡± The observer said.


    ¡°I see.¡±


    I walked out of the cabin and deep into the forest. I was instructed to just explore and test the combat.


    I found a slime after five minutes of walking. Held my sword up with both hands. The handle seemed small so I then switched to one hand. I kind of regret not picking up a shield. The slime noticed me and starts bouncing towards my direction.


    I started swinging indiscriminately. I put as much force as I could and hoped I would land a hit. I didn¡¯t realize that I had my eyes closed the entire time. The harmless slime eventually died.


    A window popped up showing that I had gained experience.


    [1 Experience Point Gained]You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    I ignore it and moved on to the next slime nearby.


    This time I try to actually look at what I was trying to hit. The slime had a bar above it. There was a health bar along with a number inside it. The level was to the right of the health bar. It read 10/10 HP.


    I tried to thrust my sword at the slime. Instead of the edge of the blade, I hit the slime with the tip of my sword. It took five damage with that hit.


    I attempted to sway my sword with precision instead. I held the sword up above my head and brought it down on the slime. The sword went through the slime and deals another five damage. The slime vanishes slowly and I get a drop. It was a bracelet. Since I could just equip it manually, I had put it on.


    I went on slaying more and more slimes. The combat itself was very simple. It wasn¡¯t like your average MMORPG. It was very action oriented. I was having too much fun killing slimes to bother with my stats. It seems like they help but aren¡¯t the end all to this game. Or at least that¡¯s what I believe. I can see difficulty scaling with the AI of monsters rather than raw stats.


    I was interrupted after killing my tenth slime.


    ¡°John? I¡¯m sorry but we have to cut your beta test short.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because there¡¯s a bug in the system that can cause further harm to your playthrough.¡±


    I was disappointed with this unexpected event. I logged off the VR set and walked out of the facility. The other beta testers that played alongside me were feeling down. We were told to leave early after all. It was also bittersweet to be the last ones to play the game before release.


    Before leaving, I tried asking what was the problem. No one could give me an answer as it was confidential. I just brushed it off and moved on with my life.


    That was just a few months ago when I went on to beta test for Strife of Celestials. Today was the day the game finally released. Many around the world were ready to play the game of the century. It was the first in the whole world to be a VRMMORPG.


    ¡°Finally!¡± I screamed at the top of my lungs. As soon as the package came in, I ran from my front door to the stairs.


    ¡°Stop running,¡± My mother said as I passed by her.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said ignoring her.


    As soon as I got to my room, I prepared my VR headset. The wiring was a bit of a mess but I didn¡¯t mind it. I sat on my bed then started up the VR headset.


    I appeared in my menu room. The whole room was filled with promotional images for Strife of Celestials or SoC for short. I had various VR programs like one that lets me tour around the world and very simple remade games. Most of them were retro games and nothing too good. Nothing was as ambitious as the game I was about to play.


    I press the button to start the game. The whole world warped around me and a text appear above me. It was the title sequence.


    [Welcome to Strife of Celestials]


    I click on the start button and was immediately loaded into the world.


    ¡°Strange, I should¡¯ve been sent to a room to create my character.¡±


    I tried to take a good look at my character. It was hard to see as only torches lit the dark room. The stone bricked wall seemed cold. Banners hung around the place. It seems that I spawned in the starting area. Hundreds of players wandered around the dim damp room. The room was designed to hold all these players. It was wide and tall. There was a stair that led to a balcony that overlooked the whole area.


    One by one, the players walked up the balcony. Once I reached it, I had a better view of the spawn area. There were hundreds in front of me, and hundreds still spawning behind me. At this rate, thousands will enter the game at the end of the first hour of the game.


    It felt like I was in line at a theme park. Slowly we wandered outside of what seemed to be a castle. We met an NPC at the entrance that introduces us to the game. About fifty of us at a time could listen to the NPC while the others behind wait for their turn.


    The NPC went on to tell us of our quest. Most of the players were too excited to bother to pay attention. I could tell who were the hardcore players as they paid attention to most.


    The players of this game were meant to be knights in game. The NPC called us soldiers of the kingdom. This was a game designed with swordplay in mind. There was magic involved but it wasn¡¯t the main focus. Our quest was to defend the kingdom from various threats. There was more to it but not much information was revealed.


    I sighed in relief as I finished listening to the NPC and finally left the castle to go on my own. The first thing I did was run out into the wilderness and find monsters to fight.


    As I was walking, I went through my menu and found a sword in my inventory.


    [Starter Sword]


    [Req: Level 1]


    It had no description as it was just a plain starting sword. I assume everyone else had the same one. It was just a single-handed medieval-looking sword. Similar to the one I had during the beta test. The only difference was the hilt was designed differently. The guard curved a bit and the handle was wrapped in leather.


    To no surprise, I eventually found a slime. I attacked it as my first instinct. I tried to swing a sword. Since I had previous experience in the game, I took my weightless sword and thrust it towards the slime. And like usual, it did five damage.


    [5/10 HP]


    Immediately after my thrust, I was close to the slime. I wanted to kill the slime in a combination of attacks. So I raised my sword, kicked my left foot forward and pushed myself with right foot behind me. This lead to push more force to my sword¡¯s impact at a closer range. After that, the slime had disappeared.


    ¡°That was awesome!¡±


    I spent the rest of the day slaying slimes as it was just too much fun.


    After two hours of practicing how to use the sword, I took a break. I instinctively wiped my forehead. What was I doing? There are no physical restraints in this world. So I wouldn¡¯t be sweating in the first place. I laughed to myself as hard as I could. I couldn¡¯t stop until other players just stared at me from the distance.


    I moved on to a more secluded area. I then wanted to see my progress.


    [Exp: 99/100]


    Huh, I¡¯ve been fighting almost a hundred slimes. I just need one more then.


    I find a nearby slime and do a thrust slash combination again. I wait a bit but no menu pops up to tell me that I leveled up.


    [Exp: 99/100]


    I opened the status menu again and it just says the same thing.


    Once again I find a slime and do a thrust slash combination.


    [Exp: 99/100]


    ¡°What?!¡± I screamed.


    I can¡¯t seem to level up!

 Chapter 2 - Tutorial

    I couldn¡¯t believe what my eyes were seeing. The window floated in front of me. I left it alone for a few minutes as try to understand what happened.


    [Exp: 99/100]


    I keep trying to slay monsters left and right. Even so, the experience bar didn¡¯t move.


    ¡°What the hell!¡± I screamed. Frustrated by this, I throw my sword to the ground.


    [Unequipped Starter Sword]


    The window appeared in front of me. I remembered that I could manually change my gear by physically wearing or removing items. I then looked down at my right wrist as I reached out to pick up the sword.


    ¡°What is this?¡±


    It was a familiar bracelet. I waved my hands and navigated to the character menu. There was a column of boxes showing the gear being worn by my character. There were plenty of slots such as helmet, pants and so on. There was an item occupying the accessories box.


    [737475636B]


    [Req: Level 1]


    Is this for real?! Did I pick up some glitched item? I have no need for a useless bracelet anyways. There was no description and It gave no stats or anything like that. So I tried to remove the bracelet.


    ¡°Huh? It¡¯s stuck.¡±


    Could it be a bug with the servers? Maybe I¡¯m just glitched right now with my experience bar and equipment frozen in place.


    I couldn¡¯t remove the bracelet. I sighed as I gave up. Then I looked at the bracelet carefully.


    It was just plain metal. Not much detail put into it. The only thing interesting about it was the way it shined in the sun.


    Hold on. This bracelet seemed familiar. I remembered picking this up during the beta test. Did my character transfer from the beta test?


    Questions aside, I decided to give up removing the bracelet. It was stuck on my wrist. I already tried shaking my right arm. The bracelet wasn¡¯t loose at all. It¡¯s just stuck there.


    ¡°Great, now what.¡±


    I looked around. There were slimes wandering around. One noticed me so I picked up my sword.


    [Equipped Starter Sword]


    I looked at the slime in front of me and noticed the health bar floating above it.


    [Lv 1 Slime]


    [HP: 10/10]


    I took a wide right swing of my sword and cut the slime down. And before the slime could retaliate, I swung the sword from the left. The slime vanishes and drops some money. It was only ten pieces of copper. I put away the copper into my inventory. There was a list of coins on the bottom of the inventory window. It goes from gold, silver to copper.


    I admit I was a bit disappointed. Slaying monsters without any sense of progression made it feel a bit dull. It¡¯ll get harder once I continue through the game. More hits to defeat monsters. Plus I¡¯ll just end up dying in one shot.


    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± I scratched my head. I kicked the ground and pieces of grass ripped off from the ground. I was really excited to play through this game and now I have a huge block in the road.


    I open the menu and found a report bugs button. A virtual keyboard appeared in front of me. I typed in the issue and details.


    ¡°Stuck at level one,¡± I echoed what I typed. ¡°Can¡¯t progress past 99 exp.¡±


    I put in my player info and submitted the report ticket.


    [Your report will be reviewed in the next few days]


    ¡°What?!¡± I screamed at the window that appeared before me. There was no way I was that patient. What was I going to do for the next few days, play this game?


    Now that I think about it, why not? Let¡¯s try playing this game as a level one player. It¡¯ll be hard but maybe I can pull it off with a little bit of effort.


    Naturally, the next step was to move on. So what can I do? I was a bit curious about my stats. If it takes me two hits to kill a level one slime, then my attack must be pretty low. I navigated to my character menu once again. I opened the stats tab and everything was listed. It showed my player name that was set from when I created my VR account.


    [Esther]


    [Level 1]


    [Health: 100/100]


    [Mana: 100/100]


    [Stamina: 100/100]


    [Strength: 10]


    [Agility: 10]Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    [Intelligence: 10]


    [Defense: 10]


    Obviously, the stats were low because I was level one. There were a couple that caught my attention. Mainly it was Mana, Stamina, and Intellect. Mana and Intellect suggested that there was magic in this game. For a game mainly about knights, it was strange that there was magic. Then there was stamina. I wasn¡¯t sure what stamina was going to be used for but I guess I¡¯ll find out if I actually continue this tutorial quest.


    I open the quest menu and the window pops up.


    [Quest: Go train at the barracks]


    If I remembered correctly, the barracks were next to the castle. So I backtrack to the castle and found myself on a stone path. There were hoards of players still coming out of the castle and heading towards the barracks. Some wandered out into the forests like I did earlier. Maybe they wanted to test out the game on their own first.


    Some players kept their swords in their sheath on their left side of their hip. Others waved it around like it was some toy. Since it was weightless, they easily shook their arms with swords in hand


    The weird but expected part was that everyone was clipping through each other and teleporting everywhere. Not exactly teleporting but I knew what was going on. Since it was launch day, it was having the most amount of players in one area. So the server couldn¡¯t handle it and the server slows down immensely.


    I followed the line of players into the barracks. The barracks was a huge building. It wasn¡¯t as big as the castle but it was about five stories tall. There were stone walls and wooden windows. Inside, there was plenty of rooms for the players to split up into. Inside each room were an NPC and a row of tall wooden figures. They appeared to be training dummies. I walked into one along with ten other players and listened to the NPC waiting for us. He went on to some lore-friendly way of teaching us how to swing a sword. It wasn¡¯t helpful at all until a window popped up.


    [Use the game-assisted sword technique]


    I tapped on the window to continue the explanation.


    [Using a sword technique uses up stamina and activates a series of attacks! Just yell out ¡®Slash!¡¯]


    I tap the training dummy with the tip of my sword. There was no response indicating damage dealt. I was hoping to use this to test a few things.


    ¡°Slash!¡± I said as I faced the training dummy in front of me. A window appeared in front of me. It said the name of the move and attributes of the move. I was focused on what my body was actually doing.


    As if by intuition, my body moved on its own. It caused my whole body to shift to a stance and raise my one-handed sword. Then I shift my whole body to put power into a strike on the training dummy. It was completely different than learning to hit a target on my own.


    ¡°Slash,¡± I said in a calmer down. My body repeated the same motion on its own. The whole stance into a slash attack.


    I glanced at the other players besides me. The players echoed the room with the slash attack. The NPC just stood there watching mindlessly.


    I took a step back. There was something I wanted to try. I replicated the stance and then repeated the slash attack on its own. There was no window or anything. I assumed this system was meant to be a way to assist players who have no idea how to fight with a sword. There could be complicated sword attacks that can be learned with this system. That could be helpful. But could I learn these advanced sword techniques? I can¡¯t level up after all.


    I try it again. I walk up to the training dummy then I struck it. It almost felt like the same motion. It just didn¡¯t feel as precise as before. Maybe my posture wasn¡¯t right.


    After trying out the skill technique and doing it manually a few more times, I walked out of the room. My quest line continued on to the next floor.


    I walked into one of the rooms along with five other people. The room itself was filled with various swords and other equipment like armor and shields. We all walked in to observe the different types of weapons.


    The NPC walked from the corner of the room. With every movement, his armor made a clanging noise. He then waved his arms to catch our attention and spoke up loudly.


    ¡°There are many types of swords in this world. From one-handed to two-handed swords and various kinds of blades and handles. Your starting sword is a simple arming sword. These are common weapons used by knights of the Astoria. It is our duty to use these weapons to defend the kingdom. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.¡±


    The NPC took a step back. All the players walked around the room as they browse the swords. Each sword had their own stand. They couldn¡¯t be removed from their stand but touching each sword gives a description.


    [Longsword]


    [Two handed, long, double-edged blade.]


    Hm, so this was a two-handed sword. Unlike the starter sword I have, which is an arming sword. Are the swords completely weightless? If that was the case, then the longsword would be a strong weapon to wield. If the swords were just a reduced weight of their original counterpart, then the longsword was actually a bit heavier. So it would be a bit harder to carry but it would have an impact when striking an enemy.


    There were plenty of other swords to look at but I took a liking to the longsword. Maybe I¡¯ll go find one out there. After looking at a few other swords, I moved on to the next floor.


    Floor three was filled with various NPCs in each room for different aspects of the game. I went into a random room while another player was asking questions.


    ¡°There is a level requirement for sword techniques,¡± The NPC said. ¡°Once you reach a certain level, the angels will bestow upon you that ability.¡±


    I assume he means the game¡¯s system will allow us to use the ability. This NPC seems to be the one meant for combat. I moved on to the next room.


    ¡°Any competent soul is capable of magic.¡± The NPC wearing a robe cupped his hands and fire came out of it. ¡°Once the angels find you worthy, they will bestow upon you that ability.¡±


    The other players who asked the questions were amazed by the fact that there was magic in this game. I assume that there¡¯s a level or quest we reach that teaches us magic. So my guess earlier today was correct, based on the character stats window.


    I didn¡¯t want to spend all day asking questions. Maybe the main storyline will tell me about the game¡¯s mechanics. I can always come back if I get lost or something.


    The other floors of the barracks were just lore stuff. Knights living quarters along with other necessities. The hardcore players observed the NPCs living their lives in the barracks as they trained.


    ¡°There must be something to do here,¡± I whispered to myself.


    I opened the quest menu. It was still the same quest but with a different description.


    [Go talk to the Captain]


    I wandered around looking at each NPC. They had generic names like, ¡®Knight¡¯ or ¡®Mage¡¯. On the top floor of the barracks, there was an individual in armor without a helmet. His face was more unique compared to the other NPCs. Captain Gerald read on the health bar floating above his head.


    ¡°Hello.¡±


    ¡°Ah, soldier! Your services are required,¡± The Captain said enthusiastically. ¡°There¡¯s a monster threat at Astor Village. Go there immediately.¡±


    It was brief but this NPC has to go through many players, so it was understandable. A window popped up on the corner of my eye that showed my quest line. ¡®Go to Astor Village.¡¯ It came along with a compass, showing the direction of my destination.


    [Quest Completed!]


    [Gained 100 Exp]


    This meant nothing to me of course. I took a deep breath to calm myself from going on another tantrum.


    Onwards to Astor Village.

 Chapter 3 - The First Quest

    [You gained 2 experience points]


    I waved my hand over the lying window in front of my face. I clicked my tongue and gripped my sword as tight as I could. I stomped my feet as I walked towards the next slime.


    There were piles of coins lying on the dirt. They were spoils from the slain slimes. Other players gave me a look of confusion since I haven¡¯t been picking up my loot.


    I screamed in frustration as I struck the fiftieth slime down to zero hit points.


    [Quest Complete]


    Why does the first quest have to have a high amount of slime targets?


    I sighed as I struck my sword to the ground. I leaned on the hilt of the sword as I watched nearby players slew the wandering slimes.


    Slimes themselves were harmless. The quest goes into the story of how a horde of slimes caused many problems such as ruining crops, attacking villagers at random, and just taking up too much space. The NPC that gave the quest gave this huge speech that I could care less about.


    I picked up the loot from the slimes as I walked back to the village. These slimes were only level two, so they took three hits instead since they had three hit points. And they also give two experience points, not that it matters now.


    Level two slimes did nothing different than level one slimes. I would assume the AI would be more difficult on higher level slimes. I hope this game moves on from slimes sometime soon.


    I wander through the village. It was a really plain medieval looking village. The dirt path was hard to walk on. I walked alongside a stone fence that wrapped around the houses here. The houses here were made out of stone and wood. Smoke puffed out of the chimney of each house. There was one building that had a noticeable smoke fuming out of the chimney. I could only assume it was the blacksmith. Near the end of the village was a schoolhouse. Past the schoolhouse was a church. The church was built with brick stone and had stained glass on the windows. Taking a left at the dirt path from the church lead to the town hall of the village. The building was built like the other houses but was much taller and wider. Inside there were players lined up to receive their quests or to claim rewards.


    I walk to the door nearest to the entrance and met with a captain. The NPC had a knight¡¯s armor with a sword sheathed at his hip. He talked in a very serious and loud voice.


    ¡°Take care soldier!¡± The NPC greeted a player after giving him a quest.


    I walk up to the NPC and turn in my completed quest.


    ¡°You have serviced this village well. Here is your reward.¡±


    [You gained 50 Experience Points]


    ¡°That¡¯s not all. Here you go.¡±


    The NPC reached behind him and out of nowhere came out a sword. He then handed it to me. The sword was different than the starter sword given at the beginning of the game. I held it with both hands and looked at it. For some reason, it was really heavy. Like I was carrying two people at once. I know real swords are supposed to be heavy but this was way beyond expectations. As I held the sword, a window popped up showing off the name and stats.


    [Astor Shortsword]


    [Requirement: Str 15]


    [A shortsword forged at Astor Village.]


    What a waste! Such a decent looking sword that I can¡¯t even use. I guess I¡¯ll just sell this after all.


    I put the sword away into my inventory. It was hard to carry after all. The way to put the sword into the inventory was to slide it in through the inventory window. It was hard since it was heavy, so I just dragged the inventory window really low so I could just slide at ground level.


    After putting away the shortsword, there was a huge exclamation mark over the NPC¡¯s head. I then talk to him for another quest.


    ¡°There is a village wizard down south from here. He has requested for a knight¡¯s assistance. You might learn a thing or two from him, soldier.¡±


    A window pops up with details of the quest. It basically repeated what the NPC had said along with quest rewards. What caught my interest was that it read, ¡®There is a chance to learn magic.¡¯ Eager to do this quest, I hit the accept quest button.


    With a deep sigh of relief, I walk out of the town hall. If I could learn magic, maybe I can overcome this level one restriction. I glanced around at how other players looked at their rewards with a glow in their eyes. They waved the swords around and ran around the town hall like little children. On the other hand, I was stuck with this starter sword. For some reason, this gave me a twisting feeling in my stomach.


    I opened my world map. North of here was the Castle of Astoria, the place where we spawned. Currently, I stood at Astor Village. While down south was the location of the village wizard. There was only an exclamation point on the map without any text showing what place it was. I put the map window away and went on with the quest.


    In the distance, I could see a tall building. I could only guess that it was around ten stories tall. It took a ten minute walk to the wizard¡¯s tower. There were plenty of players around. Some were already casting magic.


    I was a bit excited for once. This game was nothing but hardships so far.


    I lurked around watching players cast a fireball on nearby slimes. They tested the strength of it, the duration and length it can reach. As soon as I got to the front door, I saw the wizard inside on the first floor.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I talked to the wizard and he began this long ramble. I couldn¡¯t make sense of what he was saying as it was mostly gibberish. Maybe the voice actor for the wizard put way too much effort into whatever accent he attempted to do. But by the time he was done, he made sense.


    ¡°My experiments have gone astray. Go slay fifty elemental slimes up in the tower.¡±


    The quest information updated.


    [Quest: Slay 50/50 Elemental Slimes]


    I immediately ran up the stairs. With my light starter sword in my right hand, and stood in my slash stance. But what I saw discouraged me. A huge group of players was all fighting slime. Not an available slime in sight. Some players had an Astor Shortsword equipped. Others were even using fireballs. Come on, at least leave one to me!


    I stood by the stairs and looked up. I could hear fighting coming from upstairs. Maybe there was more. But again, there was no slime untouched. Floor four was the same.


    When I reached the fifth floor, there were fewer people around. I walked around for a bit before an elemental slime spawned.


    [Lv 3 Elemental Slime]


    [HP: 30/30]


    Okay, this should take six hits to kill. I should also avoid any damage the slime might deal. This was a different kind of slime so I don¡¯t know what kind of attacks the elemental slime might bring out.


    The slime itself changed through different elements as time passed by. There were fire and water attacks. Sometimes it emitted electricity. I kept my distance to avoid any attacks before slashing at it myself.


    ¡°Slash!¡± I yelled out my attack. My body moved on its own. With a proper stance, I gripped my sword in hand and swayed the sword in a horizontal motion.


    Wait what? I blinked for a while and then looked closer at the slime¡¯s health bar. Are the hit points reading correctly to me?


    [Lv 3 Elemental Slime]


    [HP: 27/30]


    Three damage?! Only three?! What kind of sick joke is this?


    I repeated the slash attack once again, this time manually. The hit points went down went down to twenty four. So there was no difference in using the sword technique and doing it manually.


    I took a step back and waited. My patience was rewarded once the slime threw out a fireball. It was painstakingly slow, so it was really easy to dodge. I then took a quick step forward and yelled out, ¡°Slash!¡±


    I repeated this over ten times. I did a slash attack, backed off and looped back. Level three elemental slimes were definitely more challenging than normal slimes since I had to take in account of their magic attacks. But it was simple to deal with since it was slow.


    There were no drops after slaying the slime. I took a deep sigh of relief after killing the slime. I noticed my stamina bar was already low. Since sword techniques used up stamina, the slash attack uses up ten at a time.


    Wait a minute, I have to kill forty nine more elemental slimes? Hm¡­ Let me think here. That was ten attacks per slime. So that means that would be five hundred attacks in total!


    After regaining my composure, I looked for the nearest slime. I took the stance by myself since I was out of stamina. I then charged at an elemental slime with a charging slash attack. If this was a sword technique then it would be hard to target a monster with it. Since I was doing it manually, I could track the monster as it moved.


    After striking the slime, I was in close range. I took the chance to take another close range slash as my sword finished its first swing. After the combination of attacks, I took a step back. This method lets me deal six damage in one combination. This was a lot more helpful than just doing a single attack at a time.


    I did a simple repeat of combination slashes after each time dodging the slime¡¯s attacks. After five times, the monster was slain.


    Forty eight to go. Come on¡­


    Nearby players come and go. They easily killed slimes in a few hits. Every slime I slew meant a new batch of players showing up. All of them yelled out ¡®slash!¡¯ There were some exceptions where they attacked on their own. Some were sloppy and some seemed to know what they were doing.


    Another player was struggling with an elemental slime. She yelled out ¡®Slash!¡¯ and then fell on her butt once she was hit by a fireball. The player got back up and did it again. Then she was hit by another fireball. I noticed what her healthbar read.


    [Lv 2 Scorch]


    [HP: 84/150]


    Scorch was her character name. She was taking a huge amount of damage so far. I walked by her and offered advice.


    ¡°You should wait till after they throw an elemental attack,¡± I said as I offered a hand to help her back up.


    She didn¡¯t respond. The other player just took my hand and pouted.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±


    The other player turned to the elemental slime she was fighting and waited. It threw a water attack at her and it was dodged. Once more she shouted, ¡°Slash!¡±


    After two last hits, the slime was slain. The other player looked at me and extended her arm.


    ¡°Thanks for the advice,¡± She whispered. Her eyes were looking at her hand. The other player stood tall but she was still shorter than me.


    ¡°It¡¯s no problem. Just gotta be more patient, that¡¯s all. My name¡¯s John by the way.¡±


    Oops. I said my real name by accident. And I didn¡¯t have to say my own username in the first place as our names were already floating above our heads. Ah I¡¯m so stupid!


    The other player squinted her eyes for a bit. She then relaxed a bit and shook my hand.


    ¡°I¡¯m Sarah,¡± She said in a low voice. Sarah then walked away with a straight face and went towards the next elemental slime. She seemed to be a fast learner. I don¡¯t think I would have to worry about her if I meet her in the future.


    Sarah was only there for another five minutes before she finished her quest. I, of course, was still slaying these stupid slimes.


    After an hour of slaying elemental slimes, I walked down the stairs to the first floor. The wizard stood there as he was busy dealing with players. I claimed my quest reward and the wizard started rambling again. Then he started making sense.


    ¡°I bestow you the power of fire! Now yell out fire to cast this spell.¡±


    The wizard made wild gestures as he spoke. He then yelled out, ¡°Fire!¡± and made a throwing motion with his hands. A fireball came out and dispersed after a certain distance.


    [You attained the magic spell ¡®Fire¡¯]


    I tried it myself. I yelled out, ¡°Fire!¡± and a fireball came out. At the same time, a window appeared in front of me.


    [Fire]


    It was the same way a window pops up when I used the sword technique, Slash. I guess it was to confirm which skill I was using in the first place.


    I skipped around the tower floor. I tried casting fire again just for fun. And again just to see my mana bar go down. As I was busy trying out the magic spell, The wizard continued speaking.


    ¡°Magic spells can be improved once you gained more experience.¡±


    There was that word. Experience. How I want to punch a wall right now. I did my best containing myself from screaming at the top of my lungs. How I want to just leave this game. But I resisted since I paid good money on it.


    Still, this spell was already strong. A ranged attack can do me wonders. I can keep my distance to avoid taking any unnecessary damage, even if it won¡¯t scale up to the higher level opponents. There was the limit of my mana bar though but I shouldn¡¯t worry about that now.


    ¡°You can learn more spells as you visit dungeons,¡± The wizard continued. ¡°The whole world is filled with dungeons yet to be explored. With various weapons, magical tools, and magic spells to be discovered.¡±


    Okay, I can do dungeons. How hard could they be?

 Chapter 4 - The Challenge

    ¡°Different magic spells are given as rewards for completing dungeons. Yada yada,¡± I flipped through the pages of a book. ¡°First known dungeon¡­ level ten?¡±


    I closed the book in front of me and finished my research. I was currently back at the barracks next to Astoria Castle. Here, I could take in information about the game by talking to NPCs or reading this simple guidebook.


    I was curious about magic so I went to the barracks to read up on it. Since magic was not a central part of this game, they integrate dungeons as a way to learn new magic spells. It would be too useful to know plenty of spells early on. Dungeons were supposed to bring some challenge, so the level shouldn¡¯t be surprising. I wonder if I could finish one at this level.


    I walk into one of the rooms with an NPC in it. She wore a dark grey tunic and held a shortsword in hand. There were two other players alongside me already asking questions. The NPC was quiet as the two players talked to each other.


    ¡°Sword techniques are pretty cool.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they are.¡±


    Their conversation piqued my interest, so I walked up to the NPC and asked a question.


    ¡°What can you tell me about sword techniques?¡±


    The NPC smiled and spoke up while standing up straight.


    ¡°Sword techniques is a way to channel the celestials to execute an attack. The higher your level of experience, the more powerful attacks you can execute.¡±


    Celestials, huh. That was a weird lore behind sword techniques. Since I couldn¡¯t level up, I couldn¡¯t use the sword techniques. At least with the game¡¯s assistance. That I already tested beforehand. I could always do these attacks manually. Granted I practice with proper execution of it.


    ¡°Where can I learn sword techniques?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Once the captain at the barracks deems you experienced enough to handle a new sword technique, he shall teach you.¡±


    So once other players learn the technique, I can just come over and copy them as they execute them.


    ¡°What other swords can I use?¡±


    I rubbed my chin in thought. I wonder if there was anything else I should learn. Nah, I¡¯ll find out eventually.


    I walked out of the barracks and out into the forest surrounding the castle. I soon found myself on the dirt path back to Astor Village. There was a blacksmith there which I wanted to visit. Maybe there were different swords I could try out.


    The blacksmith had a variety of swords ranging from level five to fifteen. Out of my reach¡­ I looked towards the far left of the table displaying swords. There were three swords with level one labeled next to their names.


    [Lv 1 Shortsword]


    [Lv 1 Longsword]


    [Lv 1 Rapier]


    The starter sword I had with me seemed to be an arming sword as I¡¯ve learned from the NPC from the barracks during the tutorial. The shortsword seemed to be more like a long knife. It must be easier to swing at the cost of its range. I wonder how much lighter it was to the arming sword. The blade of the longsword was as twice as long as the shortsword. Of course, its reach was more advantageous. I wasn¡¯t fully aware of what a rapier was. It had a fancy hilt and its blade wasn¡¯t that impressive other than the sharp pointy end.


    I couldn¡¯t decide on what to get, so I bought them all. I walked out of the blacksmith and tested the swords out. I opened my inventory window and reached in the slot of each weapon. I pulled out each weapon slowly and the window popped up for each weapon I pulled out.


    [Shortsword Equipped]


    I tried out the shortsword. It was about the same as the starter sword. It¡¯s weight was a bit lighter but no difference. It¡¯s blade was much shorter. I have no idea what advantages this sword holds.


    [Longsword Equipped]


    The longsword was a closer impression to a real sword by its weight. Not exactly heavy, but it weighed twice as much as the starter sword. I swung the sword with both hands and targeted a tree. The feeling of impact was very satisfying.


    [Rapier Equipped]


    My assumption with the rapier was that it was more specialized in stabbing than slashing. This was probably a different type of sword compared to the first three I¡¯ve used. It weighs as light as shortsword since its blade was the very thin. I thrust the sword at a tree and it dug deep into it.


    I had plenty of time before the support team from the game contacts me and eventually raise awareness among the developers of my situation. Might as well as have fun slaying slimes, right?


    [Rapier unequipped]


    I dropped the rapier into the inventory window. I thought carefully and decided to pick up the longsword. Since the weight of swords was a lighter version in real life, it¡¯s added weight wasn¡¯t too much of a disadvantage. I rather have a two handed weapon to keep both hands busy. In addition to the fact that the slimes were slow anyways.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    [Longsword Equipped]


    I walked away from the populated areas where players were slaying slimes left and right. Once I reached a quiet place to myself, I faced a slime that was ready to attack me.


    [Lv 3 Slime]


    [HP: 50/50]


    I stared at the slime in front of me. I gripped the sword in hand tightly and slightly crouched. I adjusted my body into a stance with my right hand raised with my sword and my left vertical in front of me.


    I mimicked the slash attack and without saying a word, I took a step forward with my right foot and swayed my sword in a horizontal direction. The new weight of the sword in hand gave it a feeling of a harder impact.


    [Lv 3 Slime]


    [HP: 45/50]


    This time my attack was dealing five points rather than three when I fought the elemental slimes. I should be careful with higher level opponents.


    This slime¡¯s attack pattern was very simple. A slow headbutt attack into an idle animation for about five seconds. In that timeframe, I could lane five hits as I can swing my sword without direction. This time was different. I focused on my stance to mimic the slash sword technique.


    I slew a few level three slimes while I try to master the slash attack on my own. After each swing, I feel like my attacks were faster and more effective movement wise. No matter what I did, it always dealt five damage.


    ¡°Slash!¡± I yelled.


    With a horizontal swing, I finish off a level three slime. This time there was no difference between a manual slash attack and the sword technique.


    Perfect.


    I sighed in relief. Even though there was no physical restraint in this virtual world, I felt the mental impact of concentrating on my posture and execution.


    ¡°I feel like I could take on the world!¡±


    There must be something more difficult to fight. I started running away from the castle and further into the forest. I passed by a few dirt paths that lead to the nearby villages but I strayed away from them. As soon as I felt like I ran far enough, I searched for nearby monsters.


    [Lv 5 Slime]


    [HP: 75/75]


    The level five slime stood before me. It was much larger than the other slimes I¡¯ve encountered. I ran at it without a second thought and immediately swung my sword at it.


    Then it dodged.


    ¡°What?!¡± I screamed.


    It can¡¯t be. Slimes with better AI already?


    As soon as I recovered, the slime attacked me with a headbutt.


    [HP: 90/100]


    I looked up at my hit points. Frustrated from taking damage, I took another swing.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    I froze in place as if I was caught doing something embarrassing. The other player¡¯s stare broke my stunned self. He wore an armor similar to mine but instead he had a cleaner coat of arms on the chest. I looked down and noticed mine was much more worn out. Maybe he was further down the questline than I was. The other player had shorter hair than mine and held a longsword in hand.


    I dropped my arms and took a step back away from the slime. The slime started ignoring me and slid away.


    ¡°Uh, I¡¯m just fighting some slimes,¡± I finally responded as I nervously laughed. ¡°You distracted me. I was about to kill that slime.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯re just level one. That slime was level five.¡±


    That was right. Other players could still see my health bar with my level and name.


    ¡°Well, gotta start somewhere. Right?¡± I continued to laugh nervously.


    ¡°Esther, right? What are you doing here?¡±


    I read the other player¡¯s health bar.


    [Lv 6 Buster]


    [HP: 195/195]


    ¡°Buster?¡± I tried to contain my laughter. All that leaked out was a smirk.


    ¡°Anyways. You should just level up by doing the quests. You wandered really far out here,¡± Buster said while pointing towards the castle in the distance. ¡°There should be Astor Village in that direction.¡±


    ¡°Well. You see, I already did the quest at Astor Village.¡±


    ¡°The Wizard¡¯s Tower? But you should¡¯ve gotten exp points already.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s my problem. I can¡¯t level up.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, right.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll see,¡± I said while looking for a level five slime.


    [Lv 5 Slime]


    [HP: 75/75]


    I readied my stance. This time I was going to be patient. The slime jumped at me and I dodged to the side. Then I went for a manual slash attack.


    ¡°So you can slash a sword, impressive,¡± Buster said sarcastically.


    I was dealing only five damage at a time. Which was surprising since this was two levels above the last slimes I was facing which dealt the same amount. Maybe it had the same defense while having increase health, damage and AI?


    It took a while to defeat the slime. It was a bit embarrassing since Buster stood there watching me make a point. After a three minute fight which would¡¯ve taken Buster a good four hits to slay, I defeat the monster.


    [25 Experience Points Gained]


    I then look at Buster with my arms wide open.


    ¡°See? It gives a hundred exp points to slay this level five slime. And look at me, level one.¡±


    I gave him the ¡®I told you so¡¯ face. He had a confused look on his face. He sheathed his sword and thought to himself.


    ¡°I see. So you have a bugged character I assume.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s been a huge pain so far.¡±


    ¡°How did you last this far out here?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I paused. ¡°This slash sword technique helped out a lot. And reading the monster¡¯s attack patterns were really easy so far. It just takes a while to slay monsters at a higher level.¡±


    ¡°Interesting.¡±


    This time, Buster had an impressed look. He then paced back and forth while talking to me.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re just going to play the game as a level one player?¡±


    ¡°I guess until I get a response for my report ticket. Someone on the company has to realize this stupid mistake.¡±


    ¡°What if until then, you try out playing this game as a level one? You know, like those level one playthroughs of those action RPGs?¡±


    I raised my eyebrows. I challenged myself to try it out earlier but Buster really motivated me this time.


    ¡°I was only just messing around, but that sounds like a good challenge.¡±


    I reached out my arm for a handshake and Buster responds.


    ¡°You should add me to your party. In case things go wrong, you know.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    I waved my arm to open the main menu. I look for the social button and click on add friends. Then once Buster accepted my friend request, I tapped on his name and added him to the party.


    Below my health bar in the corner of my eye was another health bar showing Buster¡¯s name, hit points and mana.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Esther,¡± Dustin said as he lead the way beyond the forest.

 Chapter 5 - Skeleton Manor

    ¡°You got the hang of it,¡± Buster said. ¡°You¡¯re getting faster. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to use a lighter sword?¡±


    ¡°I think this longsword will do just fine,¡± I assured him.


    I was mentally exhausted as I faced level five slimes. Buster just sat by the tree nearby. I let the tip of my sword hit the ground, pushed it down into the dirt and then leaned on it. We were the only players around this area. We were a bit further ahead of the village of my next quest but we were interested in fighting higher level monsters. Buster, on the other hand, was already ahead of me, so he was also probably a bit further behind his current area.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see you fighting. Why not help out?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I have plenty of time to level up myself. It¡¯s you who needs the training. You¡¯ll be left behind once we face more difficult opponents.¡±


    ¡°The AI is already starting to be a bit more unpredictable. I can¡¯t imagine a more difficult type of AI. Next thing they¡¯ll predict our attacks or parry or something. I¡¯m already struggling as it is!¡± I complained.


    ¡°They¡¯re only starting to do patterns at random. It¡¯s a matter of knowing those patterns and seeing it as they come. Let¡¯s keep going.¡±


    ¡°I think mastering how a simple monster¡¯s attack patterns like it¡¯s some raid boss wouldn¡¯t be useful to learn.¡±


    ¡°True. Maybe we should progress with our quests.¡±


    I waved my hand to open the main menu. I tapped on the quest menu. There was only one thing listed which was my main story quest. I already accepted this quest from the captain at the barracks.


    [Quest: Investigate Astor Manor]


    The story for this one was that there were strange sightings of a new monster near the manor. A new monster meant I couldn¡¯t depend on already knowing what the enemy could do. Especially since all I fought were slimes and their variety, such as elemental or giant ones.


    ¡°I have to do the quest at Astor Manor.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s perfect. I have yet to finish that quest. We can fight the skeletons together.¡±


    ¡°Skeletons?¡± I asked. ¡°Way to spoil it.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be a baby.¡±


    We wandered through the forest until we found a dirt path. There were two lines of players walking from both directions. Some were moving on to the next area while others were backtracking. Maybe they might buy something at Astor Village or visit the castle.


    ¡°The village is-¡± Buster looked both ways before continuing. ¡°That way.¡±


    ¡°If you say so.¡±


    We both walked down the dirt path but it took a while as there were was a long line of players walking. The drawback with playing on launch day was the huge amount of players trying out the game. It would be the most amount of players in a single area. As time passes by, the density of players near the starting area of the game will spread out.


    The sunlight was starting to glow orange. The day was almost over. I wasn¡¯t surprised as I was playing all day. The in-game time corresponded to the time in real life. The server I was on was based in my own time zone so it matched with the sunset


    As soon as we arrive at Astor Village, I looked around. I could see a huge house in the distance on top of a hill. It was still another long walk but at least I could see where we were going.


    There weren¡¯t that many players going to and from Astor Manor. Many had already finished the quest and others either choose not to progress yet or have yet to reach this quest. There were a variety of players who played at a different pace after all.


    ¡°We¡¯re here!¡± I yelled. Some players glanced at me but then went on with their business.


    The manor had a long front yard with a dirt path surrounding it in a circle. At its center was a nonfunctioning water fountain. There were tall bushes that wrapped around the property of the manor. In a similar sight with the forests with players slaying slimes, there were a number of skeletons wandering around outside the manor being slain by players.


    The skeletons appeared to be floating bones held together with nothing visible. I could only guess that it was magic that held them together. Like some spiritual force or something. I don¡¯t know, this was just a game after all. Floating bones looked cool.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± I yelled in excitement.


    ¡°Wait, Esther,¡± Buster stopped me by grabbing my shoulder. He then pointed in the opposite direction to the left side of the house where there weren¡¯t any players at all. ¡°We can practice there. I can grind a bit alongside you.¡±


    ¡°Perfect.¡±


    So we made a plan. I would pick out a skeleton while Buster would target the skeletons surrounding me, preventing me from being attacked by multiple monsters. He would grind out his level for now and I get to practice on a new type of enemy.


    It was a good plan so far. The main problem was the length of my battle. After a few attacks, the skeleton¡¯s health went down slowly.


    [Lv 5 Skeleton]


    [HP: 42/50]


    ¡°Slash!¡± I yelled with impatience. My body moved on its own into a proper stance and then I attacked with a horizontal attack. I dealt another four damage to the skeleton in front of me. Some of the bones fell off its floating body but was still standing up straight. There were ribs and an arm that landed on the ground. It was a bit creepy but seemed realistic. Being stuck in awe distracted me from my frustrations of dealing almost no damage to the skeleton.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    I then took a step back. Knowing how enemies work in this game, they wait for their turn to attack after a certain amount of time. The skeleton just swung their arm at me. It was really slow and easily telegraphed since the skeleton did a windup with its whole body. It took a step back and then lunged at me with its arm.


    Waiting for my turn, I held my longsword with both hands and repeated the slash attack. This time it was manual. Without uttering a word, I crouch down into my stance and slash the skeleton in a horizontal line.


    After long repetitions of attacks, I finally killed the skeleton.


    [Gained 25 Experience Points]


    Please stop lying to me...


    ¡°That was actually fun,¡± I said to Buster who had slain five skeletons already. I was a bit jealous of that.


    ¡°These are only the easy skeletons. Wait till you get inside.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t get my hopes up though. The monsters in this game are really easy,¡± I said as I looked down. There was a loot drop from the skeleton I killed.


    There was a single piece of bone. It was different from the remains of the skeleton. It was shining and had a window above it when I focused my eyes on it.


    [Bone]


    [Crafting Item]


    ¡°There¡¯s crafting in this game?¡±


    ¡°Oh, really?¡± Buster walked over. I read the text to him and he responded. ¡°I didn¡¯t know there was crafting in this game either. Must be a rare drop then.¡±


    ¡°What could you craft in this game?¡± I wondered.


    Weapons? Armor? Accessories? There were a number of possibilities.


    Buster and I wandered around the manor as we slew skeletons. There was no quest telling us to fight skeletons but we decided to do so anyway. The quest itself was supposed to lead us into the manor.


    After fighting five more skeletons, we stood in front of the huge manor. It seemed larger as soon as we walked up the steps. The front door was tall but not as wide. I turned the doorknob and it made a loud creaking noise. The house was definitely old and unused.


    ¡°This is creepy,¡± I said.


    ¡°Can¡¯t wait till you see-¡±


    ¡°Stop right there,¡± I interrupted. ¡°No more spoilers. I actually want to enjoy the game.¡±


    ¡°Fine.¡±


    We finally stepped inside. It was the very definition of a haunted house. There was dust everywhere and the furniture was worn out. I passed by a dusty mirror that barely made a reflection. The rooms were wide and tall. I was surprised by the size of them. The size was what I was worried about at first since it would restrict me from fighting effectively.


    Buster walked ahead while slashing at wandering skeletons. The sounds of crushing bones echoed through the manor. I could hear more groans from the skeletons also echo.


    ¡°How many are there?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Plenty to grind,¡± Buster grinned. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s continue this investigation.


    I led the way while Buster followed behind me. We explored the second floor but found nothing but wandering skeletons. This time they were level six. I fought a few of them and was able to maneuver around just fine. There was plenty of room to dodge and swing my sword. For every skeleton I have slain, Buster probably killed six.


    ¡°Woo! Level up!¡± Buster¡¯s voice echoed again. As soon as he said that, more moans from monsters echoed too. ¡°Level eight!¡±


    ¡°Will you shut up?!¡± I yelled at him. I was still kind of irritated that I couldn¡¯t level up myself.


    ¡°I can¡¯t help it,¡± Buster shrugged.


    We ran down the stairs as fast as we could. I decided to avoid a few skeletons and ran ahead while Buster followed.


    ¡°We should find the basement. That seems the most logical place to find the source of these skeletons.¡±


    ¡°Good thinking, Esther.¡±


    As we fought our way towards the direction where the skeletons were coming from, a strange door was found by the kitchen.


    ¡°This looks like the way,¡± I said.


    It had a stone decor around the doorframe. The door¡¯s handle was a stone latch that had a carving of an emblem. I could only assume it was a family crest of the family that used to live here. That was what the lore said when I was given the quest.


    I pulled on the door. The ground made a rumbling sound while dust fell from the hinges. As we walked inside, the walls were made of stone brick and torches were hung. The dim light from the torches made up for the lack of sunlight.


    There was a long way down the stairs. Buster and I held on to the side of the wall. It felt dusty and cold. As soon as we reached the bottom of the basement stairs, there was a gruesome sight. A number of skeletons on the ground. They weren¡¯t floating as they were the appearance of deceased knights. Their chest had the Astoria Kingdom¡¯s coat of arms. I poked my sword at them to make sure they won¡¯t spawn and attack us.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they won¡¯t rise up at all,¡± Buster assured me.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said as I led the way further into the basement.


    There were a number of regular skeletons on our way.


    [Lv 7 Skeleton]


    [HP: 60/60]


    ¡°Oh great.¡±


    ¡°Let me take care of this one,¡± Buster said. He ran at the skeleton and killed it in four strikes. He yelled at his last attack, ¡°Slash!¡±


    The level seven skeleton fell apart and its bones shattered into pieces.


    ¡°You need to work on your form,¡± I laughed.


    ¡°I¡¯m don¡¯t need to depend on fighting properly.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡±


    We took turns fighting the skeletons. He would take the first two, then I would take on one. He would occasionally use the slash attack while yelling out the command while I would do the attack manually.


    ¡°Vertical!¡± Buster yelled out. His motion was what I could only assume to be a sword technique. His body crouched slightly into a stance. His sword, instead of it being on his left side, was raised above his head. It seemed different compared to any other player doing a random attack from above. His posture was drastically different. Buster¡¯s attack seemed more of a professional with a sword rather than some kid swinging it wildly.


    ¡°That¡¯s a new sword technique.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, you only have access to slash. Sucks to be you.¡±


    ¡°I can mimic that attack. Just like how I can mimic the slash attack.¡±


    Buster had a surprised look but then a smile formed on his face.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t doubt that. Along with your speed, you¡¯ll be a formidable player.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the compliment, Buster.¡±


    We continued to slay skeletons until we reached the end of the basement. It was a long empty hallway that leads to a large door.


    ¡°This is suspicious,¡± I said. ¡°If I didn¡¯t know any better, I¡¯d say there¡¯s a boss at the end of this hall.¡±


    Buster just laughed as we walked down the hallway. I led the way as Buster followed behind me. I was walking casually until the ground shook. I started running towards the end of the hall and pulled on the latch on the door. Dust started falling from the ceiling as the shaking continued. The door wouldn¡¯t budge.


    As soon as the ground stop shaking, I looked around. I gave up on pulling the door open and looked at Buster. The ground started shaking again and behind Buster, I could see something fall from the ceiling.


    A figure could be seen through the dust building up in the air. Its glowing eyes could be seen through the dust. It walked out into view. The figure was a skeleton. It was a tall figure with long limbs along with wearing a knight¡¯s armor wearing the Astoria Kingdom¡¯s coat of arms. It then drew its long two-handed sword. It then raised the sword and ran towards us.

 Chapter 6 - Ambush

    [Lv 10 Skeleton Knight]


    [HP: 100/100]


    The skeleton that fell from the ceiling faced Buster and I. We were stuck in the hallway so there was no reason for me to fight at all. There was no room for me to maneuver so there was no reason for me to fight at all. I stepped back and took the rear as Buster moved towards the skeleton knight.ined


    ¡°I got this.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± I nodded.


    The skeleton¡¯s bones rattled as it marched towards us. It¡¯s worn out armor shook with every movement. The sword it held was dragging on the ground. With the door behind my back, I could only watch their fight.


    ¡°Cross Strike!¡±


    Buster yelled out from what I could assume to be a sword technique. He went from his slouching stance into a crouching one. His body moved on its own as he swayed his sword twice. First from the right side in a diagonal line then diagonally from the left. The skeleton took the first hit but then parried the second.


    ¡°Not again,¡± Buster whispered.


    The skeleton knight struck Buster, dealing a small amount of damage. But it was significantly more than the regular skeleton¡¯s attacks.


    [Lv 9 Buster]


    [HP: 80/115]


    From the corner of my eye, I could see his health bar under my own in the party tab. He took a big hit. He was able to level up by grinding but it wasn¡¯t enough. Ugh, if only I could help out. We could take on the skeleton knight together. I analyzed the skeleton knight¡¯s attacks. Buster kept doing the Cross Strike sword technique but his timing was off. He was just blindly attacking as he pleased without pattern. He was able to bring the skeleton knight¡¯s health down but Buster still struggled. He was about to die.


    ¡°Wait till he takes a step back. That¡¯s when they wait to attack,¡± I whispered behind Buster. ¡°But only before the animation plays when the skeleton adjusts its helmet. There¡¯s your window.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± Buster made his move. The skeleton knight took a step back and then Buster yelled, ¡°Cross Strike!¡±


    He successfully connected both hits which brought down the skeleton.


    As we celebrated, the door behind us unlocked. It opened into a new area that seemed to be a laboratory of some sorts. The lighting was pretty bad as none of the torches on the walls were well lit. So, Buster and I took a torch from the previous room and started lighting up the room. We got a better look at the room itself. There were dusty bookshelves, tables with vials of various shapes, a table in the center with books all over it, and a cauldron in the middle of it all. The strange part was that the room itself was large. The ceiling was pretty high and the walls were far apart. There was enough room to fit plenty of people to do research or whatever it was they wanted to do here.


    ¡°Something¡¯s not right.¡±


    Those words escaped my mouth. This was a dead end. There was no other exit in this room. Not a single indication of any rewards or reason to be here.


    I wandered through the room. I looked through the books. They were dusty as I handled them. It was impossible to read as they were written in a language I didn¡¯t know. It was probably made up.


    Buster looked through the empty vials on the tables. He picked one up and almost dropped them.


    ¡°Hey, watch what you¡¯re doing.¡±


    ¡°What? It¡¯s not like anyone¡¯s going to use these.¡±


    ¡°Wait, do you smell that?¡± I asked.


    There was a faint smell in the air. It smelled like something rusty and powdery. As we finished lighting up the room, we finally noticed something.


    There were piles of bones and knight¡¯s gear all over the ground. The strange part was that it was swept away towards the walls. It was how Buster and I avoided stepping on them in the first place.


    The ground started rumbling. I noticed it came from the hallway. A number of shadows started to march towards us. They were more skeleton knights. What stood in between us was a number of tables in the center of the room.


    ¡°You take the left, I take the right,¡± I said to Buster. He just nodded and followed my instructions. There were three skeleton knights in front of me. This time, I had the room to fight. But defending myself against three monsters at the same time? I admit I was a bit inexperienced here.


    [Lv 10 Skeleton Knight]


    [HP: 100/100]


    They were the same as the skeleton knight in the trap we encountered in the hallway. They were tall and slim with longswords. Their armor was dusty and with cobwebs hanging from their bones. Their faces were barely recognizable as a skull. They clearly have been fighting knights like us for some time. Then turning the knights into the undead.


    ¡°Cross Strike!¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    This time, I yelled it out. Of course, there was no window that popped up showing that I activated a sword technique. I had to use something other than a slash sword technique as it wasn¡¯t as effective against a single target. I mimicked Buster¡¯s attack from what I¡¯ve observed earlier. It wouldn¡¯t be a perfect replication but I had to try anyway. I swayed my sword from the right then from the left in an x shape. I did my best to keep a proper posture. I defaulted to the stance whenever I did my manual slash sword technique. It seemed to be effective. But it barely scratched the first skeleton.


    The skeletons just rattled as they moved. The one in front of me sprang backward and adjusted its helmet. It then stepped forward and swung its word. That was my queue to dodge. I wasn¡¯t paying attention to the other skeletons as they struck me immediately after. Taking some damage caught me off guard.


    [HP: 50/100]


    In the corner of my eye, I noticed my health went down by half. This was not good at all. I retreated away from the skeletons to keep distance to rethink my game plan. The situation was not optimal for me. I was fighting three Skeleton Knights while Buster was only fighting two. I¡¯ve only practice fighting one on one against slimes. Not monsters with weapons in hand. Buster should be finished with his fight sooner than I would. I glanced in his direction and noticed something going wrong. He kept swinging his sword but nothing was connecting. All of his attacks were being blocked. Did he forget how to read their attack patterns? Or maybe he was panicking? I looked under my health bar and noticed Buster¡¯s.


    [Lv 9 Buster]


    [HP: 19/115]


    He was going to die. I had to do something. There was nothing I could do since I was occupied with three Skeleton Knights of my own. I could only watch as the knights Buster was fighting raised its sword and struck down Buster. His hit points went down to zero and then he vanished into a million pixels. He would obviously respawn but now I have to deal with five skeleton knights.


    What do I do? I obviously have to fight. I could give up but that wasn¡¯t an option. Not to me. It¡¯s not easy for me to just give up.


    I took a deep breath. Relaxing my nerves so I could move more efficiently. I twist my neck and cracked my knuckles. I then raised my sword, ready to fight, and charged at the Skeleton Knights that caught up to me. I dodged his swing and went for a counter attack. I repeated, ¡°Cross Strike!¡± in my mind and went for the cross attack. Two attacks in succession connected. I was able to bring one of their hit points down to half.


    The fight continued like a dance. With every step made following a rhythm. My feet moved forwards and back while watching the other dancers¡¯ moves as I followed suit. I crouched and leaned away from each predicted attack. My swords matched with theirs in some occasions as I did my best to avoid contact. The only time I did was when my sword struck them.


    At this rate, I should be able to win. But what will prevail? My concentration or death? My reactions would dull as time passed on. My mind started to numb after the constant repetition. My body moved as I commanded but my reactions had slowed down. I relied on my predictions based on what I saw. I anticipated movements and their attacks. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by the Skeleton Knights. I need to come up with a plan.


    I was able to jump in between the Skeleton Knights and was able to keep them chasing me around. I moved the tables to create a circular path around the room. The AI wasn¡¯t smart enough to move through the tables. I juggled between each skeleton knight as they took turns attacking me. Using the strategy of circulating around the room, I was able to pull them around to avoid being surrounded.


    ¡°Fire!¡± I yelled. I cupped my hand and I waved my hand as if I was throwing an invisible ball. But instead, a fireball was tossed. I used magic until my mana decreased to zero. Magic was useful but it barely did much this time.


    The first Skeleton Knight went down by my last fireball. But at the cost of half my health bar, I couldn¡¯t make another mistake. Four left to go. I lost track of which Skeleton Knight was which. They all averaged thirty hit points out of a hundred. I was a third of the way for each of them.


    My mind screamed, ¡°Slash!¡± and so I followed with that attack. This time, I held the sword on my left side as I then kneeled as I swung my sword. I was able to hit all four of them as they surrounded me. My attack knocked them backward which allowed me room to back off and pull them around the room. I glanced behind me and noticed one of them on the ground. They weren¡¯t dead as their bones were still intact.


    [Critical Hit!]


    Did I hit a weak point or something? I guess critical hits caused a stun to monsters? I might find out in the future so I didn¡¯t put much thought into it. I shouldn¡¯t worry about that now as there were two of them still chasing me. Running and attacking was a good strategy but since I could barely do damage to them, it took a while. Which in turn made me mentally exhausted. I did my best to take a break as I kept my maximum distance away from them.


    The fourth skeleton stood up. I could only watch as they surround me. I made up an attack on my own. I tried mixing the slash attack along with the cross strike. I swung my sword like a slash sword technique, this time only slightly diagonal in a wide swing, hitting all four of them. Then I followed up in the opposite direction, hitting all of them once again.


    One of the Skeleton Knight¡¯s started to quiver and then fell apart easily. The other three had their bones starting to fall apart. They were all around five hit points left.


    I jumped at them as I waited for the opportunity. I blocked an attack from the left, then dodged into the swing from the knight in the middle. Then swayed my sword in a wide horizontal swing, taking down the remaining Skeleton Knights.


    [You gained 250 Experience Points]


    I ignored the window that appeared in front of me. I started breathing hard after dealing with this clutch situation. My mental exhaustion was catching up to me. After a long battle, I collapsed as I sat down on the ground.


    I looked around and noticed the mess I had made. Broken bones, weapons, and armor were all over the ground. Their weapons and armor were so dull and worn out that I doubt it would be effective to wear, even if I had the ability to do so. I picked each one up and dropped it in my inventory menu.


    They didn¡¯t drop a single crafting item like the Bones I got earlier. But there were two drops that caught my attention. The first was a piece of paper that had a number of fancy pentagrams drawn on it. Holding it in my hand made a window pop up above it.


    [Mysterious Charm]


    [Quest Item: A mysterious charm found in Astor Manor]


    I stared at the piece of paper until another window popped up.


    [Quest Completed]


    [Quest: Investigate Astor Manor]


    Apparently, I was supposed to find this. I put the paper in my inventory and looked over at the other item I found. It was a dagger. I knew I couldn¡¯t use it as I looked at the description.


    [Astor Dagger]


    [Req: Lv 10, Str 15, Agi 15]


    [Str 10+, Agi 10+]


    [Dagger of the Astor Family. Used in rituals and holds the family crest.]


    I sighed at the level requirements. I could probably sell this somewhere else. I put the dagger away into my inventory. But before I could leave, I saw one last thing.


    [Server going into maintenance in ten minutes]


    It was already day one and the server was going to maintenance. What kind of company was running this game? Maybe something went terribly wrong. Maybe they solved my problem. It was already really late at night when I read that message. It was then I decided it was time to call an end to this session.

 Chapter 7 - External Factors

    ¡°John? John Frost.¡±


    I was a little shaken as I woke up. Laughter went around in the classroom. The teacher stared at me from the chalkboard. I wiped the drool from my mouth and looked up.


    ¡°Pay attention, John. All of this is going to be on the test.¡±


    He tapped the chalk onto the board. There was a long line of text with bullet points. There was a huge list of numbers, which I assumed were years, and details that were associated with them. I then remembered I was sitting in history class.


    I was in the middle of deep thoughts about Strife of Celestials. I admit I was a bit obsessed with the game. It was a shame that the game released on a Sunday. Who released a game on a Sunday? Most kids have school! There was a notable amount of absences in some of my classes. I could tell they stayed home to play the game of the century. There was no way I could pay attention in class. My mind was going to be filled about what I wanted to do in the game.


    I remembered waking up this morning to finding out that there was a patch to the game. I was glad to find out that there was a reason for the game¡¯s maintenance last night. There were a number of changes which were mainly bug fixes. Some were just simple ones such as graphical bugs and fixes to the user interface. What caught my eye was the one where they fixed the experience bar. I was so excited that morning that I immediately went back into the game. I turned on my VR system and loaded the game. Then I opened my character menu just to be disappointed. They just fixed bugs with the experience bar. Why did it only say that it was 3950 out of 100 experience points!? What? I should have leveled up by now! I started slaying skeletons at Astor Manor but all it did was increase the experience points even further.


    I went to school this morning disappointed. But that didn¡¯t drive me away from my desire to play the game even with my circumstances. I tried my best to pay attention in class but all I could think of was what I was going to do once I get online again. There were many problems I had to deal with. So I laid them out in my head.


    First off, I couldn¡¯t raise my level. So by default, I couldn¡¯t equip weapons or armor that boosted my stats. Other aspects such as sword techniques were also nonexistent for me. What I can do was mimic sword techniques. The ones early one were easy to replicate. I was just worried if there were more difficult ones in higher levels. I know that there¡¯s a PVP feature in the game. If I ever get involved in a conflict with others later on in the game, they would have access to complicated sword techniques that would be difficult to master on my own. Plus their stats advantage, that would an almost impossible fight. At some point, I¡¯d just die in one hit.


    This game wasn¡¯t a typical MMO. There are no skills that I had to learn to simply attack my enemies. I could just swing my sword to deal damage to my opponents. A light tap doesn¡¯t register contact but a normal swing does. The force of the swing doesn¡¯t affect the damage but it affects how fast I could attack. Blindly swinging my sword doesn¡¯t mean it was effective. Each swing needs to be swift and ready for the next attack. So if I learn how to fight properly, I could overcome the barrier of levels and stats. There was also a question of unarmed combat. I wasn¡¯t sure if that worked. Maybe I¡¯ll find out later.


    I feel like my movement was inefficient in the game. Was it because I wasn¡¯t used to a more healthy body? I was a bit out of shape in real life. I¡¯m neither too skinny nor chubby. Would that matter at all? I never had to play an action intensive VR game before. Maybe it was time I started exercising. It does affect the mind too. Maybe I should start walking to school instead of taking the bus? Or maybe I should invest in a bike. I should rethink how I deal with my lifestyle without wasting too much time.


    So how do I learn how to fight? It¡¯s not like I could just join some club that taught about how to use a sword, right? Where would they be? Would they even know how to fight properly? There are some VR games that specialized in replicating sword fights. They don¡¯t actually teach you though. I didn¡¯t want to waste any time. If joining some association or playing some VR game about sword fighting, then the less time I¡¯m actually spending playing the game. But if do spend some time outside of the game, I can work on my physical health and learn how to fight properly. Those were the tradeoffs.


    There wasn¡¯t much in this small town. Maybe there was something in another city. Going to the nearby city would be a waste of time. I rather spend my weekends grinding out the game. Not that there¡¯s much to grind actually.


    If there¡¯s a club in this school then that would minimize the need for travel time. But what kind of club would help with his sword fighting? I was a bit frustrated as I couldn¡¯t find out since classes were still ongoing.


    In between classes, I looked up information on my phone. There were some people who still practiced sword fighting in this day and age. They were all hobbyists who liked to learn and master the use of the sword. Some even used swords as a sport. Although they were not that well known. Except for fencing as it was an Olympic sport after all. I saved a few videos to watch later. I could practice when I get home.


    Magic was another aspect. All I know so far was a simple fire magic where I throw a fireball. I could learn more magic at dungeons but I would need to actually complete one first. Magic by itself was pretty weak. Maybe as I close my distance, I could cast a fireball during the travel time. That made sense. There weren¡¯t many options in this case so I should shelve plans about magic for now.


    What else was there? There was so much to learn about the game since it just came out a day ago. The company running the game barely gave out information about the game. How was I supposed to know what other aspects of the game I can use to my advantage?


    Frustrated with these obstacles, I almost started screaming in class. But instead, I just got weird looks from my classmates. At the end of the day, I was really eager to go home.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    ¡°Hey, John. What¡¯s up?¡±


    I asked my classmate Ryan if I could ask him a question. We were locker neighbors so we would naturally meet at the end of the school day. He had this unnaturally small backpack. I always wondered how he fit all of his books in there. There was also his slicked back hair that always bothered me. It had too much oil applied which reflected the light above us. The brightness would often blind me at times.


    ¡°Do you know any good clubs here at school?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s plenty of popular ones here. Like basketball.¡±


    ¡°I was thinking more like¡­ sword fighting.¡±


    Ryan just laughed. ¡°I see you¡¯re also playing Strife of Celestials.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Just trying to kill time I suppose.¡± I could only nervously laugh along with him.


    ¡°You never change. Always finding an edge. You still haven¡¯t returned that guidebook you know.¡±


    ¡°Hey, I haven¡¯t played Duty Calls in years. How was I supposed to remember that?¡±


    Ryan laughed.


    ¡°Well, no one even knows about this, but we have a fencing club.¡±


    ¡°W-what? I didn¡¯t know that.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re a small club, so we¡¯re always under the radar. Even with the increased interest from Strife of Celestials. I¡¯m not sure that there were players of the game in this school.¡±


    ¡°We? That must mean that you¡¯re in the fencing club.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we don¡¯t have many members.¡± Ryan chuckled. ¡°But we participate in the fencing association at the city. So we have plenty of people to practice with. We also participate in matches. Although we¡¯re not required to go. Say, are you interested?¡±


    I thought to myself. Was it worth spending time at a club? I could easily just go home and play the game. But I thought about it more. If people I play with, like Buster, didn¡¯t go online until much later, I¡¯d be spending time by myself in-game. There were pros and cons to practicing in-game or in real life. I would be on my own either way. In the game, I could get used to the VR space as I work with my movement. In real life, I could work on my physical being and learn a real skill in learning how to properly fight with a sword. It would beat learning how to fight from just videos from the internet.


    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it, Ryan.¡±


    ¡°Sure thing John. Just come by anytime.¡±


    Ryan plays Strife of Celestials and was in the fencing club? He would be a formidable foe. The thought of having a level advantage along with the skill irritated me.


    I closed my locker as I finished packing my stuff. Thankfully there wasn¡¯t much homework to do. But there was a test I had to worry about.


    Packs of students strolled through the halls. Some struggled to get to their lockers. I barely squeezed through the groups of students standing by as they talked along with their classmates. They should just take their conversation outside. The halls were limited space, you know.


    The autumn winds were blowing as soon as I went outside. There were leaves all over the school grounds. I¡¯m pretty sure the school gave up trying to clean up the leaves until all of the trees were bare. I enjoyed the cool autumn breeze until someone called out to me from behind.


    ¡°Hey, where have you been? Did you think you could simply avoid me?¡±


    It was a familiar voice that belonged to an old friend of mine. Her ponytail swayed as she hopped over to me. She had her shirt untucked that went over her short skirt. It was against the uniform rules but I¡¯m sure she didn¡¯t care. Her book bag was over one shoulder and had various accessories. Pins, stickers, and patches all over the side of the bookbag. There were bracelets, necklaces, and rings all over her. I didn¡¯t really like her style but she can be fun to be around.


    Although she was right, I was avoiding her. I did that sometimes but this time was for a different reason. I didn¡¯t want to waste time speaking to her when I could be going home to play Strife of Celestials.


    ¡°Hey, Nora.¡± I laughed nervously. I looked away and had my feet pointing away from her. I was trying to subtly tell her that I didn¡¯t want to talk, but she would ignore that message anyway.


    ¡°John.¡± Nora had a furious look.


    ¡°You see, I had to go home early since I have errands and¡­¡±


    ¡°I know you just want to play some stupid game. Why deal with that virtual crap instead of hanging out with me? Like, we haven¡¯t hung out in ages.¡±


    I sighed. She was going to nag me anyways. I haven¡¯t been spending time with her for a while. I had to think of a way to get rid of her and fast. I¡¯m wasting daylight here. I wanted to play really bad.


    ¡°You see, there¡¯s this new game that came out. I¡¯ve been so busy with it that I forgot about you today.¡±


    Nora just smacked me over the head. I shouldn¡¯t have said that.


    ¡°Strike of Celery, was it? I heard about that game.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Strife of Celestials.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that one. I don¡¯t understand what the fuss is all about. It¡¯s just a game, right?¡±


    ¡°It just happens to be the first MMO in VR. No big deal,¡± I said sarcastically.


    ¡°Jeez, all those acronyms.I¡¯m tired of these MMOs. Now that there¡¯s this whole new VR craze, your addiction would surely get worse.¡± She laughed.


    ¡°Oh come on. It¡¯s really good. You should try it,¡± I suggested.


    Nora pondered. She looked up with her hand on her chin.


    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it. I¡¯d have to borrow my brother¡¯s Paramount VR System.¡±


    ¡°We call it PVR.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Whatever.¡± Nora waved her hands.


    ¡°When do you think you can play?¡±


    ¡°Probably tomorrow. Just don¡¯t play too much with me. Got it?¡±


    ¡°No promises. You probably wouldn¡¯t be too far behind.¡±


    ¡°Why so?¡±


    ¡°The character I play is currently bugged.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that mean?¡±


    I sighed. ¡°It means something broke in the game. I can¡¯t level up past level one.¡±


    Nora had a confused look.


    ¡°And that means¡­?¡±


    ¡°That means I can¡¯t gain more stats. Which means that my health and my damage won¡¯t increase as monsters increase in health and damage. Is that simple enough.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all you had to say. Jeez. Well, I¡¯ll see you later then.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡±


    We went our separate ways.

 Chapter 8 - Encounter

    I wasn¡¯t fond of Tuesdays. I just wanted to play some games. It was usually the day both my parents were home, so they expect me to spend some time with them. I spent that afternoon talking about school and the game I¡¯ve been playing. They were interested in how school was going for but they were completely impartial about me playing Strife of Celestials.


    I didn''t mind spending time with them. I felt like I owed them for keeping a roof under my head and giving me an allowance, which I spend on video games. They¡¯re a bit disappointed in my hobby, but they don¡¯t mind as long as I do well in school.


    I had already done some errands yesterday after school. As soon as I came home, I went straight to Strife of Celestials. I redeemed my quest at the barracks and got my reward. To no surprise, it was just experience points and money.


    I spent my money at the general store at Astor Village. There wasn¡¯t much to buy so I spent all my money on healing potions. I was going to need them for now. But in the future, I¡¯ll end up taking so much damage that it¡¯ll take my whole health bar. Eventually, they¡¯ll be redundant.


    Buster helped me practice yesterday. I worked on my reaction timing as I predicted NPC attacks. Buster offered to duel me for practice but I thought I wasn¡¯t ready yet.


    As soon as I was done with dinner, I ran upstairs and looked at my VR system. I walked by it and walked to my computer. It was an old dusty thing since I rarely use it. The only times I ever got on this ancient machine was when I had to type up essays for school. Even then, I could use my VR system to type it up but my parents insist I do it old school. There was a reason I wanted to use my computer instead.


    On the computer, I looked up references about sword fighting. I then copied the pose the person had in a video. There was an old poster I never got the chance to hang up. I rolled it up to a long cylinder and held it like a sword. The man in the video had a two-handed longsword which was the weapon I currently used. He was slightly crouched. His arms were raised over his head as his sword pointed towards his opponent. I copied to the best of my ability.


    After further research, I found out that there were multiple stances with the use of a longsword. There were a number of different guard stances. I couldn¡¯t figure out which one to stick to as they each had their advantages. I tried out each one until I felt comfortable.


    I picked my personal favorite, which was the plow guard. With my feet apart at a length as wide as my shoulders with my right foot behind my left. I held the poster by the waist while pointing it upwards in front of me. I can thrust it forward if I like or raise it above my head for a heavy strike. The sword can sway left or right to defend or attack. It felt the most natural to me.


    I found another video about doing a basic strike with a longsword. It had minimal movement to have an effective strike. The woman in the video held the sword with the blade hanging on her shoulder and the handle in front of her torso. Her right foot stepped forward and swung her sword forward diagonally without increasing the distance between the sword¡¯s handle and her torso. I could easily move the sword from the plow guard and shift the blade to rest on my shoulder. I then swung it forward with minimal movement.


    I figured that there was no need to do a wide swing anymore. It felt like a waste of my energy. I practiced this basic attack over and over as I minimize my swing time.


    Most of the videos I¡¯ve watched involved two people with swords fighting. They had minimal swinging to have an effective attack. But this wouldn¡¯t make a difference against enemy NPCs. I wonder if learning this was worth it. Maybe I¡¯ll end up doing PVP?


    After practicing in real life, I decided it was time to do it in the game. I put on the VR system and turned on the game. I was greeted by the welcome menu and loaded my character. I took a peek at my character menu. I was reminded of a certain change from yesterday.


    [Exp: 3950/100]


    I was disappointed after yesterday¡¯s patch notes claimed to fix the experience bar. Thinking they fixed my leveling problem, their wording was more political. It¡¯s only been three days since the release of the game but I waited patiently for my report ticket to be answered. Someone has to respond right?


    I waved my hand to close the menu in front of me and proceed to take out my longsword.


    [Longsword Equipped]


    There were a few things I wanted to try out. My swift swing and unarmed combat. I walked through the forests outside Astoria Castle and wandered to find slimes.


    [Lv 5 Slime]


    [HP: 50/50]


    I walked up to the slime with a plow guard. I watched its movements as it bounced left and right. It then stood still before jumping at me with a headbutt. I dodge to the side and then took my guard. The blade rested on my shoulder and then I prepared to shift it forward. I took a step forward and swung my sword.


    A number floated above its head. I had dealt four damage. With my rapid attack, I had enough time to deal another one. I resumed my guard and then went for another attack.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    [Lv 5 Slime]


    [HP: 42/50]


    I brought down the slime¡¯s hit points with two continuous attacks. The slime then prepared for another headbutt. I anticipated the attack judging from the animation wind up and then dodged as planned.


    This monotonous task went on. Guard, swing, swing then dodge. The slime¡¯s AI was very simple. The timings were the same and it was easy to read when it was ready to attack. My focus was mainly on working on my plow guard stance and my quick attacks.


    [You gained 25 experience points]


    I defeated the slime in a tedious battle. If only I could increase my attack power then this wouldn¡¯t take so long. I relaxed my mind as I was concentrating on what was just a five-minute fight. It would¡¯ve taken any other level five player a single minute to deal with this simple slime.


    The best I could do right now was grind. I can work on reacting to different NPCs while I wait for Buster to come online. I looked around and fought slimes for thirty minutes. That was a total of six level five slimes and a total of a hundred and fifty experience points. Not that it mattered to me.


    I then moved on to Astor Manor where skeletons roamed about. Their AI was more complicated than the simple slime. So this was better practice at reading attacks and reacting accordingly.


    [Lv 5 Skeleton]


    [HP: 50/50]


    There were plenty of skeletons and players outside the manor. I grinded for another thirty minutes outside. The skeletons had a simple pattern but it varied. They typically clawed at me with their bare-boned hands then paused. They use their whole body into that attack so it was easy to see when it happens. But other times they jumped at me. That attack was harder to read as they crouch very slightly. It was a much quicker move that didn¡¯t seem to deal much damage. But it was a big deal with the difference of our levels. I then glanced at my health bar. For a weak strike, it had hit me for a third of my hit points.


    I opened my inventory and took out a healing potion that I bought yesterday. It was a round bottle with a cork on top. I popped it off and drank the red glowing liquid inside. It was a bland taste with a hint of sugar. I guess it was to make it appealing to take in. My health bar went back to full and I continued my practice.


    I wandered inside the manor and ignored the regular skeletons. I skipped my way into the basement and walked to the long hallway. There, I fought the first skeleton knight encounter. I held my sword tightly and waited for an attack. The knight telegraphed its attack and I blocked it with my own sword. I then thrust it forward as the swords grinded together and connected the tip of my blade into the skeleton knight¡¯s skull. The knight flinched backward to a certain distance.


    [Critical Hit!]


    The window popped up on my screen. The knight stopped any actions after a certain amount of time. It appeared to be stunned for a set duration after getting hit by a critical attack. Was it my counterattack that made it stunned? Or maybe it was because I attacked a vital area of the monster. It could be a combination of both too. I worked on my quick swing and counterattacks on the knight in front of me. My sword clashed with the knight¡¯s with minimal effort until I brought its hit points down to zero.


    I finally wandered into the laboratory. I looked around a bit and waited for the other skeleton knights to spawn. I repeated the same strategy I had last time I was here. The tables were arranged in the center of the room and I looped around as I pulled the Skeleton Knights in a circle. I took turns with each knight as I fought one by one. The repetition took a toll on me mentally as a headache formed by the time I defeated the last knight.


    This took about an hour wandering around Astor Manor as the fights were tedious. I gained a total of four hundred and twenty-five experience points fighting five regular skeletons and six skeleton knights. It would easily take twenty minutes for any other player to do this routine.


    I took a break and sat down on the chair. My hand rested on my forehead as I tried to recover. I noticed that the furniture reset their positions since I was last here. I looked around and noticed something was off. Why did the place reset? Was it the server¡¯s reset that fixed everything back? Or was this place supposed to be a fixed instance for each player? I then looked around more carefully.


    This place was a dead end with the long hallway as the only exit. I looked around the bookshelves to see if there was any sign of any new information. The books were in an unknown language. There was no obvious secret that I could find so far. But there was a draft in the air. Maybe it was behind the bookshelf. I tried pulling each bookshelf. None worked so far until I reached the one on the farthest corner from the door. It was then I was given a message.


    [You discovered the mini-dungeon: Astor Dungeon]


    [Minimum players recommended: 2]


    It was much colder in the new doorway that I discovered. A long stairway followed downwards. The walls were worse than the basement I was in. This time there was no light source. I took a torch hanging in the laboratory in one hand and equipped the long sword in the other. I walked down slowly to make sure I didn¡¯t step on anything or recklessly encounter an enemy.


    The stairs were about ten stories below the basement level of the manor. I kept wondering how long it would take to reach the bottom. Each step I took echoed through the stairway. There was the sound of dripping water and crawling insects.


    I could barely see far by the time I reached the bottom. It was a large room so my torch didn¡¯t see too far. I followed along the wall and noticed there were chains attached alongside it. Every foot along the chain were handcuffs hanging on. I kept going until I looped around. There was no other door on this floor. What was the point in this room?


    I tread lightly towards the center of the room. There was this gut twisting feeling in my stomach. And my hunch was right.


    There was this invisible force holding the skeleton together. It wore the Astoria Knight¡¯s armor and held a great sword. There was then a spark. The skeleton knight lit up and burnt up. Then the fire dimmed down. The whole room was visible to me now. I dropped the torch in awe.


    [Lv 13 Skeleton Knight Captain]


    [HP: 400/400]


    It had four hundred hit points. With my long sword, it would take a total of a hundred hits to defeat it. But if I made any mistakes, it would be the end of me. I hastily attempted to open my inventory window.


    [Boss battle in progress]


    Oh great. I couldn¡¯t take out my health potions right now. I should¡¯ve had them in hand if I knew this was going to happen.

 Chapter 9 - Breakthrough

    The light flickered leaving an orange glow along the floor. The darkness engulfed the ceiling. A faint fire came from the entity in front of me. The dim light then grew. The flashing light repeated itself as I stared at the floating skeleton.


    There was no movement. I waited for something to happen as I stood idle. I was cautious of any sudden movements but none had been made. I gripped onto my sword with my right hand as the blade rested on my shoulder.


    It seemed to be waiting until it comes into combat. I guess boss fights work this way.


    I scanned the room. The dim light at the center completely changed the view. All there was in sight was the barely visible chains on the wall and the fallen torch by my side. I had given up on the torch as there was already a light source and both my hands were occupied holding this longsword.


    My breathing was irregular. I fixed it by taking a deep breath in then paused. I finally let a breath out and felt more relaxed. The world was clear now. My sharp mind was set.


    I took small steps towards the target. It stared at me with a glow through its two holes coming from the skull. My breath followed along with the flickering lights.


    ¡°This was it,¡± I whispered to myself.


    I got close enough to reach the Skeleton Knight Captain with the tip of my sword. I tapped on the armor then backed away immediately.


    The embers within its armor grew brighter. The whole room was lit up without a crack of darkness left. Shadows of its figure drew on the floor. It gave the illusion that it seemed bigger up close. And it was.


    It was a tall figure. Up to six feet and ten inches tall. The bones within the skeleton weren¡¯t exactly the shape of a human. There was ample space between each bone which made its figure much bigger in size. The armor was easy to expand as it¡¯s age was easily shown. There were plenty of cracks all over the expanded armor.


    Its great sword was easily it¡¯s noticeable feature. Holding it with its two arms, the great sword was almost as tall as the Captain. Probably as long as six feet. It would reach me before I could even reach my opponent.


    I charged at my enemy. Then I took a step back. I was testing the Skeleton Knight Captain¡¯s range. If it¡¯s greatsword was its biggest threat, I need to test how fast it could swing before I could close the gap.


    I ran again. This time with the sword in hand covering my face, ready to block. The Captain had swung its sword wide from my left but I was able to dodge towards that side.


    The Captain¡¯s sword dug into the ground. It took a while to pull it up. This was my chance. I then attacked from the left. It flinched for a bit but it continued to pull its sword from the ground.


    I could feel the heat of its core at this distance. I backed away as I feared the flickering heat would affect me some way. It kept growing and diminishing at a fast rate.


    The ground shook with every attack the Skeleton Knight Captain took. It''s great sword left an impact on the ground itself after I jumped sideways to avoid the attack.


    It screamed after every two attacks it did. It was more like the fire burning at its core exploded with energy, lighting up the room and effectively intimidating me.


    I couldn¡¯t falter. I had to keep my cool and face my opponent with quick judgments. I ran up to the captain and landed a swift swing of my sword.


    [Lv 13 Skeleton Knight Captain]


    [HP: 392/400]


    Great. Just ninety-eight swings to go.


    I backed off and waited for its next move. There was going to be a pattern but since the AI was going to be more complicated than a simple slime, it attacks won¡¯t be in the same order every time.


    I analyzed its attack pattern. It would swing twice then do an action. It would either continue another two attacks or scream. Sometimes it would adjust itself as its bones would rattle. Other times it would move around the room, giving me some time to breathe. I couldn¡¯t risk how it would react if I chased after it.


    So that was a total of four different branches of actions it would take. I easily anticipate each action as I got used to its movements. It swung at me twice the rattled its bones. I went for a swift swing and backed off easily.


    I kept my distance. I shouted, ¡°Fire!¡± and threw a fireball. It shuddered from the impact of the fire but it barely took ten hit points away. I kept going until my mana bar hit zero.


    I closed our distance and waited. It swung at me four times then screamed. I dodged every swing except for the last one. My sword came in contact with the Captain¡¯s sword. My block was successful but the force was so great that I threw me backward.


    I charged at the enemy once more. I dodged two attacks and then attempted an attack. I couldn¡¯t approach the Captain when its fire was flickering brightly. I felt the intense heat even from a safe distance. I was afraid I was going to take fire damage if I got too close. So I backed off immediately. I waited until it had stopped then repeated my approach. I watched patiently for a gap between its attack.


    This was a battle of concentration. I could feel my brain melting from this repetition. A slight pain could be felt behind my eyeballs. My neck started getting stiff. My breathing was heavier. The stress was getting to me.


    I charged at my enemy. I let out a scream of frustration. It swung at me two times then I waited. It started rattling its bones then I went for an attack. But then it¡¯s core flickered. A bright light overcame me as I covered my eyes. It¡¯s intense heat covered my whole body and I couldn¡¯t react in time. There was a sharp pain in my shoulder. It had swung its sword and attacked me. The blade went through me as I watched as all of my hit points go away.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    [You have died]


    There it was. My first death in this game. It was no big deal but I couldn¡¯t help but grind my teeth about it on the way back to Astor Manor.


    I had spawned in the initial room I was first greeted with when I first played the game. Astoria Castle seemed much emptier now. With a few other players wandering around for quests or respawning like me.


    I found myself stomping my feet as I walked back to the mini-dungeon. Every player couldn¡¯t keep eye contact with me as I passed by them. I realized I had an angry look on my face.


    It was frustrating. The boss had only killed me in a single attack. There was no point in the potions I had bought earlier today. I was thinking of selling them or trading to another player.


    I skipped regular monsters and ran straight to the end of the basement at Astor Manor. I effortlessly fought the Skeleton Knights at the laboratory room then entered the mini-dungeon once more.


    I brought a torch along with me as I assumed my last one wouldn¡¯t be there anymore. I dropped it on the floor as soon as I faced the boss. The boss had stared at me. I did not touch the monster so it just stood there. I took a ten-minute break to relax.


    Then I began my tedious fight once more.


    There was a new pattern once I reached a certain moment in this fight. I couldn¡¯t tell if it was a threshold in it¡¯s hit points left or the time that had passed.


    So whenever its core burned brightly, I anticipate an attack. After mind-numbingly bringing it¡¯s health down to about a quarter down, I waited for an attack.


    [Lv 13 Skeleton Knight Captain]


    [HP: 300/400]


    It swung its sword twice and then it grew bright. I charged in and lifted my sword above my head. My timing was done right as the Captain¡¯s blade came into contact with my own. I was able to shift the weight of impact towards my right side then stab into the core of the skeleton.


    [Parry!]


    [Critical Hit x2!]


    I had no time to figure out what had happened. My attack had dealt twelve damage towards the boss. I then took a step back and watched for the next move. I kept my distance as my eyes were adjusting from the bright flash to the dimming dungeon room. As soon as I could see, I notice the Captain started charging at me.


    ¡°What?!¡± I screamed.


    I jumped towards the left side of the room. My body was on the floor, rolling towards the wall. I got up and noticed that it had thrust its sword towards the wall.


    A new pattern then. It was ready to charge towards the player but results in being stuck at the wall. But the drawback was than unprepared players would have no time to attack back.


    It thrust it¡¯s sword once again but I was prepared this time. I slid towards the left of the boss and watched it hit the wall. I then dealt as much damage as I could in that short window of time.


    I had its pattern figured out. I kept swinging my sword and throwing fireballs in between attacks. By the time it reached half of its health, it would¡¯ve revealed all of its moves. The Captain had a simple two attack then it would perform some action. I had to keep in mind a total of seven actions now.


    [Lv 13 Skeleton Knight Captain]


    [HP: 100/400]


    This was the final stretch. About a total of twenty-five strikes left. Maybe less if I dealt a critical blow. Even more with a parry as it seems to increase my critical attacks.


    I took a deep breath. My mind was calm but thoughts were rapidly shooting left and right. Most of it was how I was going to approach the boss. Every thought was put into my posture. My concentration felt sharp. Bursting through every question one by one until I came to a single focus.


    ¡°I must win.¡±


    That thought was what kept me sane from this intense fight. With every swing, dodge, and block, I kept my focus. It was difficult since I had no room for mistakes. Not anymore.


    I ignored my growing headaches, stiff neck, and tired eyes. But my mind was breaking. The repetition was killing me mentally. My brain tried to keep up sending instructions to my body. They reacted accordingly but I had to keep thinking even further ahead as my reactions dulled. I kept up my attacks and dodged as planned.


    I yelled with a final swing. There was tension from my wrists to my shoulders. I swung as fast as my body could. This last swing lasted only half a second yet my whole body had put all its effort into this attack.


    The Captain had fallen. Its bones shattered into pieces as it¡¯s armor fell to the ground. There was a distinct dusty smelly while the sounds of fallen metal echoed in the room. Then the room grew dark as it¡¯s core faded away.


    I went back for the fallen torch on the ground. The room went back to being engulfed in complete darkness with only a small source of light surrounding me.


    I waited until its death was complete before approaching it. There were a few drops from the boss. One was a familiar item.


    [Astor Dagger]


    [Req: Lv 10, Str 15, Agi 15]


    [Str 10+, Agi 10+]


    I picked up the sword. It was duplicate ¡®Astor Dagger¡¯ as I had picked up the other day. The weapon information floated above the weapon I held in my hand. I hope I can sell this for a decent price.


    [Bone]


    [Crafting Item]


    This time there were five drops of these crafting items. I didn¡¯t know what to do with the bones but I guess I¡¯ll figure out in the future.


    There was another weapon that caught my eye. It didn¡¯t seem to be as plain as the other swords I¡¯ve had. While it wasn¡¯t as fancy looking as the Astor Dagger, it had a gem at the hilt of the sword. It was the only part that shined from the light of my fallen torch. The bandaged wrapped worn out handle was short and the dirty blade was as long as an arming sword. I reached out for it as I wanted to see what kind of sword it was. But before I could even look at the window for its stats, another appeared in front of it.


    [Equipped Celestial Sword]


    To my surprise, I had successfully armed myself with a new sword. I almost dropped it but recovered it in time. Its weight could be felt with every swing and it felt natural to move around with. I then looked at the floating window above it.


    [Lv 9 Celestial Sword]


    [Str 9+, Agi 9+, Int 9+]


    [Str (1*Lv)+, Agi (1*Lv)+,Int (1*Lv)+]


    [A sword crafted by angels. A strange power lurks within. It grows along the user as it absorbs their experiences of battle.]


    [Exp until Level 10: 4250/5000]


    What was this? Was I dreaming? There was something that actually worked in this game! Could it have been the patch yesterday that fixed the experience points? They may have overlooked my situation but it at least gave me something to work with.


    I then opened my character menu to double check something.


    [Esther]


    [Level 1]


    [Health: 100/100]


    [Mana: 0/100]


    [Stamina: 100/100]


    [Strength: 10+9]


    [Agility: 10+9]


    [Intelligence: 10+9]


    [Defense: 10]


    [Experience: 4250/100]


    That must be it. The character I¡¯m playing as was glitched, so I was unable to level up myself. The weapon itself is based on experience points. Counting up the experience points has it leveled up by itself. Meaning I could still equip this weapon that didn¡¯t have a level requirement.


    Just what were the developers thinking? This would¡¯ve been a messy thing to code, to begin with. Then again, they would never have thought of a player going through something like my situation.


    The gap had somehow gotten closer, even if it was just a little.


    ¡°Ha.¡± I let out a breath. ¡°Ha.¡±


    What was this feeling? I started shaking a bit before I realized. A slight curve could be felt on the side of my mouth. My stomach had a euphoric feeling. Something was building up. Then there was a burst of laughter I couldn¡¯t contain. It echoed throughout the empty dungeon room.