Martial Online.

The wheat fields hadn't gotten any more peaceful. Instead, it might be even more chaotic than before.

The number of hopping animals had reduced significantly. It was only a matter of time before players had to go to the neighboring forest, where the sounds of battle echoed.

At that moment, a young man with shoulder-length black hair and a relatively average-looking face arrived at the entrance of the city. He held a worn-out wooden sword in his hand.

"Haha, look at these fools." A player leaning against a wall spoke to his friend. He and his friend were only one step away from stepping out of the city's gates.

However, since they were inside the city, no one dared attack them.

"Heh." His friend snickered. "It is quite funny to see them chasing after those innocent-looking bunnies as if they were dogs chasing after a toy."

"I wonder when they realize that this is pointless." The player chuckled and rubbed his clean-shaven chin. "Has anyone even leveled up yet here? Apparently, the bunnies and rabbits give 1 XP each, hah. Same with players they killed."

"Wait, seriously?" His friend roared in laughter. "Has anyone even gotten 10 XP yet?"

"Probably not." His friend chuckled. "Going to the forest isn't smart either. Surviving at level 1 is quite difficult."

"What should we do then?" His friend asked.

"Gather a group. There should be people touring around the city. Let's recruit them." He said. "The party would split the experience points, but it is better than getting none."

"Ah, agreed." His friend nodded and was about to turn around to start walking into the city, but then someone touched his shoulder and gently pushed him forward.

The loud-mouthed player watched with shaky eyes as his friend stepped out of the city. He then spun his head around but also felt a gentle shove on his shoulder. He wobbled forward and left the security of the city.

Ambrose took a gentle step forward and raised the wooden sword above his head.

"Basic Slash!"

After bending his knees and rotating his shoulder, he hacked the wooden sword down diagonally. The wooden blade struck both players in the neck.

"Argh!" The loud-mouthed player and his friend recoiled backwards after getting hit by the wooden sword. They looked at their loss of HP and turned enraged.

"You're dead!" The loud-mouthed player shouted and pulled out his wooden spear. "A sneak attacking bastard!"

"Haha, you two seemed to be having a great time." Ambrose laughed out loud. "Y'know, pushing someone inside the city ain't against the rules. I did nothing wrong."

Actually, he wasn't too sure about that. However, he expected the city to follow common sense. If one attacked a person with hostile intent, one would be thrown into jail, as this was a justified reason. However, he simply happened to shove a person.

He also bumped shoulders with another player back at the stairways and could have hurt himself. That player didn't get into any trouble. Therefore, he saw an opportunity and tried to grasp it.

The loud-mouthed player turned angry at that comment. Nothing wrong? It was clear that this black-haired young man pushed them out of the city's security so he could kill them!

"Take this!" He moved the spear into a thrusting stance. It was very unstable, and the wooden blade of the spear was shaking. It was a very awkward stance and told about the loud-mouthed player's inexperience with the spear.

Even though the stance was awkward, the loud-mouthed player managed to thrust the spear forward with good enough accuracy.

At that moment, Ambrose took a step backward.

"Rick, don't!" His friend grabbed the loud-mouthed player's shoulder and pulled him back.

"Dude, what the hell?" The loud-mouthed player screamed, and his spear missed the mark by a great deal. He looked at his friend angrily.

"That guy is baiting you!" His friend shouted and pointed at Ambrose. "Look where he is standing!"

The loud-mouthed player raised his eyebrow and looked at Ambrose. His expression turned angrier. The black-haired young man took a step backward and was now standing inside the city.

If he had finished his attack, he would definitely have been thrown in jail for a few days. Getting thrown into jail for even a day would be catastrophic in the early days of the game. He would be way behind the other players!

"Your friend is smart." Ambrose said and lunged forward. The loud-mouthed player and his friend had no time to react.

"Basic Slash!"

The wooden sword cut through the air and smashed into the necks of both players.

"Ouch!" The loud-mouthed player glared angrily at the black-haired young man. He wanted to push his spear forward, but when he tried to do so, he lost all feeling in his right arm.

When he turned to look at his right arm, it was turning into light blue pixels.

"Oh, sh—"

The loud-mouthed player and his friend disappeared into pixels.

[You killed a Player!]

[You killed a Player!]

[1 XP Earned!]

[1 XP Earned!]

[XP: 2/100]

'Whew, I feel exhausted.' Ambrose sighed. "A long way to go."

The rest of the people in the wheat fields were too busy fighting to have been paying attention to the short fight that just transpired.

Ambrose felt surprisingly excited. He watched as his schoolmates did some playful fighting, and he always wanted to take part, but whenever he showed willingness to play with them, everyone suddenly didn't want to play anymore.

They knew about his condition, which made him very unpopular.

'I liked that.' Ambrose thought with a smile. 'That was fun.'

He then noticed a wooden spear and sword that had fallen to the ground.

Ambrose picked them up and tossed them into his inventory.

'I should go sell these.' He thought and re-entered the city.

He headed straight to the nearest merchant store.

...

The merchant was a middle aged man with a long beard, wearing a brown robe with a hood over his head.

He was cleaning display cases with a brown rag, making them all shiny and clean.

At that moment, a bell rang above the door, signaling that there was a new customer.

"Welcome. What may I get you, sir?" The merchant asked with a smile and returned to his desk.

Ambrose looked at the hovering name on top of the merchant.

'That muscular dojo owner didn't have one...'

[Flarehead]

"I am here to sell two items." Ambrose said and placed the wooden spear and wooden sword on the counter.

"Hmm, two basic items." The merchant, Flarehard, rubbed his lengthy beard. "2 silvers."

'That doesn't sound a lot, even though the currency is called silver...' Ambrose nodded and accepted the transaction.

After finishing the transaction, he left the merchant store two silvers richer.

His next location was the weapon store, which he saw a while back.

After reaching the two-floor weapons store, he saw several players leaving the store with dejected expressions. They were cursing the expensive prices.

Ambrose hummed and entered the store. The store's owner, a middle-aged man with a mustache and a bald head, greeted him.

He walked straight to the wall, which had different swords hanging. There were also price tags hanging from their hilts.

"Ah, are you serious." Ambrose sighed, as the cheapest sword was worth 120 silvers. 'I guess I will have to get used to the wooden sword...'