Martial Online.



"Ngh." Jesse removed the headset and placed it beside him as he sat up. He felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him, but it was only mentally, as the day had been very long.

After killing the White Inquisitor, he tried to find others to kill, but ended up in a slightly bad situation that forced him to leave the battlefield. He didn't want to risk dying because he could lose something valuable.

Before logging out, he assigned ten stats to Vitality. His Vitality stat was now at thirty. He dropped the idea of focusing on Charm for now, as he really wanted to see what would happen when Vitality reached 100.

"Ngh, do I really have to train for meditation now too?" Jesse groaned in annoyance. He was slightly overwhelmed by the amount of stuff he had to do every day.

However, he didn't want to laze around either. There might come a time when he would be in a bad situation and if the lack of training caused that, he would have wished to have time-traveling machine to punch some sense into his younger self.

Therefore, he swore to not get into that kind of situation.

"Ugh, first bathroom!" Jesse rushed to the bathroom, and once he finished relieving himself, he quickly washed his hands and ran back to the room.

His stomach rumbled, but he knew that while in meditation, he wouldn't feel that hunger.

After sitting on his bed, he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes, ready to begin his meditation practice.

The world froze altogether.

As he imagined the appearance of the black, tall metal gate, something strange happened.

The gate began to slowly materialize in front of him, shimmering with an otherworldly glow.

'I-It's manifesting!' Jesse thought with amazement and happiness, but then the world poured cold water on him as the gate faded away like it had been erased.

'Nooo!' Jesse groaned in disappointment as his hopes were crushed. 'So close... I don't even know how I managed to manifest it!'

With a renewed determination, he tried to manifest for another few hours. Unfortunately, the gate never appeared again, as if it had hidden inside his boundless mind.

After the time to end his training came, Jesse left the world of souls and went to eat a late dinner.

...

At the Martial Company, after midnight.

"The calculations had been finished!"

"Rewards will be given to participants at 7 p.m."

The sleepy-looking workers finished their work for today. They had to work extra hard today because of the World Quest. They were now relieved that it was finally done and they would be able to return to their homes.

Graham stood in his office, looking through the one-way mirror that showed the tired workers celebrating their accomplishment with smiles and laughter.

"Only Yatagarasu is left..." Graham clenched his fist. "I can't delay that World Quest anymore. She refuses to leave that place as well. I hope she will be fine."

He then spun the chair around and opened the PC. He entered the vast database of Martial Online. Then he wrote a small code and made it possible for World Quest to appear in Yatagarasu.

He then closed the PC and rubbed his tired eyes.

Knock, knock—a knock came from the door, and it slowly opened.

He raised his head and saw his secretary with a handbag in hand.

"I am leaving now; see you tomorrow." She said with a smile.

"Good night." Graham nodded and watched from the one-way mirror as the workers packed their stuff and left for their homes.

"Ngh." He then stood up and stretched his limbs.

As he grabbed his bag and left the office room, he heard a strange beeping noise.

Beep, beep—the sound came from behind at the end of the hallway. Curiosity piqued, he cautiously approached to investigate. The sound came from behind a heavily fortified door. It was a forbidden area for everyone except Graham and a few other executives.

"Hmm?" Graham unbuttoned his jacket and reached for the key that was hanging around his neck. He then used that key to open the door.

The door opened, and Graham entered the room before closing the door behind him.

Beep, beep—a beeping machine that looked like a massive football except made of metal and wires was sitting in the middle of the room.

It flashed with blue, green, and sometimes red lights.

"Why is it making this noise?" Graham wondered aloud and walked over to the strange machine. He then opened the control panel, which had a keyboard and a small screen. It showed a series of error codes and warnings.

"Hmm, what is happening?" Graham frowned and tried to fix those errors.

Soon enough, the errors and warnings disappeared like a fleeting wind. It looked like it was just a false alarm.

"Strange... Perhaps I should call technicians next morning to check if everything is alright..." Graham then closed the control panel and muttered. "Without this thing, Martial Online wouldn't exist..."

...

At the top of the highest peak of the entire Dark Continent, surrounded by a sea of dark clouds and a lightning sea.

"Huh..." A black-eyed man opened his eyes and gazed out at the sea of lightning before him. His eyes flashed with strange red error codes, as if there were computers inside him.

"That is strange... What was that I just saw?" He murmured to himself and reached to his head to touch his black horns.

This person wasn't human, as he was a red-skinned man with two black horns protruding from his forehead. He wore an unbuttoned red shirt with black trousers and a black sash belt around his waist.

He had a menacing smile on his face as he leaned forward.

"Hahaha, I wonder what I just saw!" He wondered aloud with a wicked chuckle. The smile revealed a set of sharp teeth, giving him an eerie and sinister appearance.

"A different world perhaps? I knew that there was more to conquer than that meager Light Continent. A whole new world, how marvelous!"

"Kukuku, what delicious possibilities await me there!"

...

The following night, Ambrose walked the streets of Warhaven. The thick stench of alcohol and sex permeated the air as he made over to the Street of Alcohol.

After reaching the Street of Alcohol, he went to the bar and talked with the bartender, who had become his acquaintance. They weren't friends by any means, as this place didn't have the concept of friends.

"Here." The bartender handed the young man a glass of whiskey, the usual drink that he ordered every time he visited the bar.

Ambrose nodded in appreciation and paid for the drink. He then slowly began savoring the taste, even though it still tasted horrendous. He still wanted to blend with others, and perhaps one day the taste would be tolerable.

"By the way, here." The bartender waved a brown bounty poster in his hand and placed it on the counter. "Congratulations."

"Huh, what is this?" Ambrose asked while taking another quick sip of the whiskey.

"Your bounty has increased, and it's pretty high too." The bartender chuckled. "I wonder what you did on the battlefield, but now most of these weaklings wouldn't mess with you."

"Oh?" Ambrose curiously picked up the bounty poster and raised his eyebrow in surprise.

[WANTED]

[DEAD OR ALIVE]

[Rank: Brown]

[Name: Ambrose]

[Reward: 19,999 silvers]