Martial Online.

Munch, munch.

Ambrose fed on another steaming bun while checking out the items the three players dropped. He soon finished eating the steaming bun.

"Hmm, a wooden sword, two linen cloths, and then three brown pouches. In total, I received 35 silvers, which is not bad."

Ambrose was satisfied enough and then checked his inventory. He had full HP, and the XP bar looked nice.

[XP: 63/150]

'I guess it's time to return to Amaterasu. I wish I could have gained another level, but oh well.'

He was about to depart, but then he heard the rowdy sound of clapping.

As he turned around, he saw a glimpse of a man walking towards him while clapping his hands. There was a steel axe wrapped around his back, not even bothering to hide it.

His eyes were black like night, and he had short and sharp brown hair. His body was massive and muscular with axe-like elbows and broad shoulders. His jawline was sharp, with bushy eyebrows and a long nose bridge.

He wore a dark blue cloak, which didn't really fit his body, black trousers, and leather shoes. Because of the axe on his back, it wasn't clear whether he was a lumberjack or an immensely powerful hunter.

Clap, clap, clap.

After a while, he stopped walking and clapped.

He had a large smile on his face.

"Not bad. Dual wielding is a style I haven't had the pleasure of fighting against in this game yet."

"Who are you?" Ambrose asked with sweaty hands. He realized he saw him fighting and therefore knew about his steel shortswords. They were his trump cards, which he used to surprise his opponents. Now, it wouldn't work.

"My name is Barbarian." Barbarian's grin grew wide as he looked at the black-haired youth in front of him. "I would like to fight you. Your dual wielding piqued my interest."

"I'm not going to fight against you." Ambrose said, but he doubted he had much choice. He could always run away.

"Fine, what about making the fight fair?" Barbarian reached into his inventory and pulled out his wooden axe. "I will fight only with this."

'Overconfidence, arrogance, and underestimation.' Ambrose frowned. 'Does he have the strength to have all those three? Well, in real life, he can kill me with one punch, but I am not weak here!

'If I manage to catch him off guard and deliver a swift blow, he might drop his steel axe. Maybe he has even more unique stuff with him. Also, axe... he must be part of the Unique Class.

'Unique Class is so mysterious since there isn't much stuff about it. We just know that it will be a weak class at the start, so the odds should be in my favor. Fine, let's try.'

Ambrose pulled out both his steel shortswords from the inventory.

"Good, good..." Barbarian grinned and grabbed the wooden axe so hard that the shaft almost cracked.

Ambrose leaned forward, kicked off the ground, making the dirt fly up in a cloud of dust, and lunged towards the muscular, tall man.

With two shortswords in hand, he swung them at his opponent's head with all his might.

Barbarian casually raised his wooden axe and swung it down. The wind whistled powerfully. The wooden axe pushed both shortswords away and even slashed through Ambrose's shoulder.

Ambrose's eyes shook in shock as small droplets of blue blood flew past his vision. He quickly jumped away, his heart beating against his chest.

[You lost 8 HP!]

[HP: 32/40]

'His strength and speed are ridiculous!' Ambrose felt cold sweatdrops fall down his face. 'I don't understand. First, it was Prince, and now he. They feel like all of their stats are immensely high!'

"This game is unfair." Barbarian suddenly said while tracing his finger against the wooden blade of his axe. "This isn't widespread information yet, but when it is, players will complain."

"Huh?" Ambrose frowned.

"You already have seen that your face and body are identical with your real life body. That isn't all. Your real life body's strength and speed are also transferred to your avatar."

"What!" Ambrose exclaimed. 'No wonder, I can't believe this. My real life body is weak and not very athletic, but I am not the only one. Players are often less athletic compared to others, but to think it has such a big impact on this game.

'Players will definitely complain. When there are people like this Barbarian... it's obvious who has an advantage in the early game. Not only early, but they also have an advantage later in the game. That gap is hard to cross!'

Ambrose looked at his sword-wielding arms and sighed. 'I am glad my sickness didn't also transfer; otherwise, I would be completely hopeless.'

Barbarian swung the wooden axe around and approached Ambrose. "However, this game is also amazing. Speed and strength aren't everything. The way to cross the gap is with... techniques!"

He raised the wooden axe high above his head. It was vastly different from the Basic Slash stance, as Barbarian's arm was entirely straight. His muscular arm protruded with bulging veins.

"Tyrannical Smash."

The axe smashed down, sending a loud thud into everyone's ears, which made everyone who heard it turn silent.

At the place where the axe fell, the ground had a small crevice.

Barbarian raised the wooden axe, but only the shaft remained. The wooden axe part broke apart after delivering the strike.

"What the hell..." Ambrose stood still without moving a muscle. The axe landed only meter from where he was, but he still felt the strength of the attack. If it had struck him, he would have been sent straight to the afterlife.

"And this is how to cross the gap." Barbarian said slowly and straightened his back. His tall figure was clearly taller than Ambrose. It wasn't even close.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Ambrose asked as sweat fell from his face. He doubted the man simply wanted to flex his strength on someone much weaker. He didn't seem like that kind of person.

"A friend of mine said that they saw Prince leaving Amaterasu with someone of your description."

"Prince...?" Ambrose raised his eyebrow.

"Prince is an old rival of mine," Barbarian said with a scoff. "I thought Prince had recruited you, so I wanted to see what kind of dojo he wanted to build, but I was wrong. You were simply his guide."

'A rival...' Ambrose scratched his head. 'If Prince is the rival of this monster, just how strong is he?'

"And the reason why I told you all this is because I want to trade information with you." Barbarian crossed his arms and asked. "Where did Prince go?"

'Ugh.' Ambrose's face turned ugly. 'Now that he told me something so important, if I refuse to say it, it could make me an enemy of him... That would be the end of me.'

He sighed and said. "Just don't tell him that I said this. Fuck. I guided him to Crow Cave; it is a trial of some sort. I sold the information about that place in Martial Online forums."

"Oh, I understand now." Barbarian nodded, turned around, and started walking back to the forest with the heavy steel axe on his back.

Ambrose turned to the exit of the forest, but when he took one step, he remembered he had one more question left. He quickly turned around and shouted.

"What was that technique you used?"

Barbarian stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at the black-haired young man.

"It is my own technique that I created. Want to know how?"

"Yeah," Ambrose said.

"Not telling!" Barbarian shouted and continued walking away.

"Right..." Ambrose sighed and headed towards the exit of the forest with many thoughts in mind.

'There is already someone who created their own technique, and it was so powerful... How can I do it?'