Martial Online.



At the ruined Tonshen Village, a flash of light appeared. From that light, a tattooed young man with bright, ocean-stained eyes emerged. 

He walked out of the luxurious bedroom of the village chief's house and saw a dozen players gathered outside around the bonfire.

"Yo, boss!" He walked out of the house and found the leader of the infamous Death Blade—Jaeger, sitting on a wooden chair while enjoying the delicacies of Tonshen village.

"What is it, Jock?" Jaeger asked while taking a bottle of whiskey and gulping it down his throat. 

He and his men plundered all the wealth of Tonshen Village, which included the village chief's impressive collection of different alcohols.

Jaeger was a man with impressive skills in martial arts, enough to have won several high-level competitions in reality. 

His blond hair and sky-blue eyes had become quite famous among his small circle of martial artists.

During his years of training, he had grown tall and muscular, with broad shoulders and a well-toned torso. 

Many of his friends joked around that his muscles could even stop a bullet.

After years of competing at a high level in martial arts, he had grown slightly bored of that. That was until Martial Online appeared—it fueled his motivation to continue his journey to become the strongest. 

He and his friends created the Death Blade, a group that had already made a name for themselves.

Jock, the tattooed man, took a seat beside Jaeger and said excitedly, "Zahhak made a new announcement on their website!"

Silence—all laughter stopped as every Death Blade member turned to the tattooed man, eager to listen more. 

They were huge fans of Zahhak, having been for several years by now. They wanted to be like them—bring fear everywhere they went.

"They put a bounty on a player called Ambrose. The reward is 5,000 silvers just for a hint of his location!" Jock laughed with glee. "That guy must have pissed them off. Hehe, I wish I would be able to see it in person as Cerberus hunts him down!"

"Hmm, Ambrose, you say." Jaeger caressed his chin and pondered something. "What else was there written about this Ambrose guy?"

"That his spawn is in Amaterasu. He has black hair, is a two-sword user, and looks pale like he is suffering from food poisoning." Jock said everything that was written about Ambrose on Zahhak's website.

"In Amaterasu..." Jaeger frowned. "We are quite far away, and if this Ambrose guy isn't a complete idiot, he would stay away from populated areas."

"So, there is a chance he would go to villages instead." One of the Death Blade members said.

"If I were him, I would," Jaeger said. "However, no matter where he escapes, Cerberus and Zahhak will find him."

"Well, we will be busy building our own village; ain't that right, boss?" Jock said with excitement. 

He was confident that Death Blade was the first group to think about creating their own village.

They chose Tonshen Village as their target as it was far enough from Amaterasu and had a forest filled with different creatures near them. 

It was the perfect spot for them to create their own territory and start making their group larger and larger.

Plundering the village made their wealth grow, but there were also farms near them, which they could sell in Amaterasu for a good sum of money.

"Yeah. Tomorrow, let's start clearing up the nearby farms and make them ours." Jaeger said with a small smile. He was oozing with confidence. "Men, I am certain that good days are ahead of us."

"Cheers!" All the Death Blade members shouted and downed alcohol through their throats. They felt drunk even if they were in-game. 

Their drunken laughter reverberated all the way into the dark distance.

...

"Hmm..." Ambrose stopped in his tracks after finding an abandoned house on the outskirts of a tightly packed forest. 

It looked like it had been abandoned for several decades.

He approached the house and opened the door with a loud creak. It didn't have a lock anymore, as it was broken to pieces. 

It looked like someone had broken into the house.

After entering the house, there were papers, dust, and broken glass scattered all around the floor. 

There wasn't a single piece of furniture, and all the rooms seemed empty.

Ambrose slowly closed the door and walked up the stairs in the dark house. The second floor had three rooms, all ajar, with dust flying because of the open windows. 

He checked the empty rooms and then entered the furthest one from the stairs.

'This will do, even though it isn't very comfortable.' He thought and closed the door slowly. 

He walked to the windows and watched the dark surroundings. The darkness made him think that there were people watching him, waiting for their moment to strike.

He thanked his luck that he didn't have to sleep here.

Ambrose closed the windows, walked to the corner of the room, and sat down with his back against the wall. 

From that position, he could see both the windows and the door. He couldn't be ambushed in any way.

'How much has it loaded?' He checked the download bar and sighed.

[97%...]

'Soon...' Ambrose thought and drew his Black Sword from the sheath. He caressed the blade with his hand, feeling its weight, its balance, and its sharpness. 

Then he remembered the Red Sword and its strange ability.

After sheathing the Black Sword, he took out the Red Sword. This sword had the ability to change its weight, which could be a crucial trump card.

"How do I change the weight? Maybe just by saying it?" Ambrose grabbed the handle with both hands and moved the sword in front of his body, the tip of the blade pointing towards the ceiling.

"5kg."

Swoosh—out of nowhere, Ambrose felt the sudden change in the sword. The blade began leaning forward as if its weight had increased and the young man carrying it couldn't keep it balanced anymore.

'It is definitely heavier!' Ambrose stood up and tried to hold his sword steady. He slowly swung it around his body, which he could still do relatively easily. However, this was his first time using such a heavy sword.

"Let's test more. 20kg." Ambrose, this time, had to put more effort into trying to swing the sword. The sword was now slow, heavy, and painful to swing around. 

"More... 50kg!" He cried out, and his biceps bulged as, again, the red blade began weighting a crazy amount. 

He slowly moved it around his body and there was only one way he thought of where this ability might be useful.

When he slammed his ordinary-weight blade against his opponent's sword, then suddenly increase it to 100kg, for example. His opponent wouldn't be able to expect it.

Ding, ding—a sudden dinging noise echoed in his ears. It could only mean one thing—his class had been upgraded!

"1kg." Ambrose turned the red blade to ordinary weight and put it gently inside his inventory. He then excitedly checked out his new class.

[100%]

[Swordsman Class Upgrading...]

[Upgrading Completed!]

[Class: Suicide Swordsman]

[Suicide Swordsman: All damage suffered will be reduced by 50%—Health Increased by 100—Health Recovery items have a 100% increase in effectiveness]