Martial Online.

A beautiful, tanned young woman walked on a sidewalk with her friends. She was wearing high heels and a black dress. They then came across a window that showed a TV screen.

"Ah, this is that new game." A young man with striking red hair said as he saw the TV screen showing a news anchor speaking about Martial Online.

The news anchor cleared his throat and said. "Today, the long awaited Martial Online has been released, and the playerbase is already at a record high. It broke the record player count achieved by Viking Online in only the first hour!"

"Has everyone turned into nerds suddenly?" Holly said with a scoff. "I thought only losers like my brother would try the game out."

"Haha, you sure hate your brother." A black-haired young woman giggled from the side. She looked at the TV screen and voiced her opinion. "Apparently, the game is so realistic that you can't tell the difference. It sure sounds magical."

"To me, it sounds dangerous." Holly said and spat out the bubblegum. "If it is that realistic, why would anyone want to live in reality?"

The young man with striking red hair laughed. "Also, where do you think people with evil desires would go? They would be thrown into jail if they succumbed to their evil desires here, but inside that game... Heh, they can do what they want."

"That sounds scary when you say it like that, Marty!" The black-haired young woman cried out.

Marty, the red-haired young man, chuckled and looked at the TV screen with a slowly growing smirk.

'Inside there, I could do anything.'

⁠⁠"If you want to try the game so much, go ahead, Allison and Marty." Holly flipped her hair and scoffed. She looked annoyed. "I am going home."

"Come on, Holly, don't be like that!" Allison shouted after her friend, who was walking away with her high heels clicking against the pavement.

"Come on, Marty, say something!" She then turned to the red-haired young man, whose gaze was fixated on the TV screen.

"She must be on her period; leave her be." Marty laughed and saw the TV screen scene showing an image of Martial Online. His eyes glowed in anticipation. 'Oho, that looks good. This world is so boring, but the so-called new world seems like a perfect place to fulfill my dream, heh.'

...

Ambrose reached the forest. It was called Crow Forest.

The sounds of birds chirping and insects buzzing filled the air as he entered the forest. However, that serene atmosphere quickly became disturbed as screams and the sounds of fighting reverberated from a distance.

At that moment, Ambrose caught a glimpse of a small animal on the tree. It was quite fast and moved across trees with lightning quick speed. However, it soon stopped, showing clear blue eyes.

It was a blue-eyed squirrel.

Ambrose clenched the wooden hilt of his sword and carefully approached the tree.

The squirrel looked at him with its bright blue eyes and then ran away from him, jumping from branch to branch with flashing speed.

Ambrose tried to follow it with his eyes, and soon the squirrel stopped on top of a branch. The branch wasn't that high.

He carefully stepped towards the tree, where the blue-eyed squirrel looked around in search for something.

After reaching the attack range, Ambrose raised his wooden sword high and whispered.

"Basic Slash..."

After bending his knees and twisting his shoulder, he hacked the wooden sword down.

However, it was as if the squirrel expected it and jumped away from that branch. The wooden sword broke the branch in half.

The blue-eyed squirrel ran with its four limbs on the ground. It was about to enter another tree when suddenly a sharp-edged wooden sword appeared and impaled him from the side.

The blue-eyed squirrel didn't react and instead disappeared into pixels. At its place of death, the orangish skin of the squirrel appeared. Whenever an animal was killed, it would drop a part of its body to the ground.

A brown-haired player appeared from the forest and tossed the squirrel skin into his inventory with a pleased smile.

At that moment, he caught a glimpse of another player nearby. He turned tense and pointed the wooden sword at the black-haired young man. But then he suddenly started smirking.

"Aren't you the guy I killed?"

"Yeah, small world." Ambrose grabbed the wooden sword with both hands.

"Hmph, you are only worth 1 XP. Not worth it." The brown-haired player turned around and waved his hand lazily while re-entering the depths of the forest.

Ambrose frowned and rushed after the brown-haired player. He went past trees, swaying branches, and a few bushes. Soon, he arrived at an open clearing and came across a not-so-pleasant scene.

The brown-haired player wasn't alone. He was with two other players; they were both spearmen, pointing their wooden spears at Ambrose.

"I could take your wooden sword, though." The brown-haired player grinned and pushed the wooden sword forward, stabbing through the air while moving towards Ambrose's unguarded face.

'Shit!' Ambrose jumped backwards quickly, but his feet accidentally tripped on a wooden branch. He fell on his buttocks, but luckily, the wooden sword missed his head because of it.

However, the brown-haired player's companions quickly chased after him and stabbed towards him with their spears.

Ambrose quickly rose to his feet and awkwardly dodged the spears. He then turned around and ran in the same direction he came from.

"You can't escape~" The brown-haired player said playfully and chased after him with his friends.

They soon arrived back at the place where Ambrose fought the blue-eyed squirrel.

A short, blond-haired young woman suddenly accelerated with great speed and passed Ambrose before stopping in front of him, closing his escape route.

Ambrose came to a quick halt and noticed that he was currently surrounded.

"Heh, I am on the track and field team." The blond-haired young woman smiled and pointed her spear at Ambrose.

"Of course..." Ambrose sighed and saw three weapons pointing at his face. It seemed impossible to dodge or survive the incoming attack. 'Is surviving solo really impossible?'

"Sayonara!" The brown-haired player raised his wooden sword and hacked it down.

At that moment, the bushes behind them rustled. Suddenly, a black-furred wild hog rushed out of the bush, its eyes showing a reddish glow.

"Eh?" The brown-haired player looked over his shoulder at the wild hog, who was rushing at him with hostile intent. He had to stop his attack because of it.

"Basic Slash!" Ambrose quickly lunged forward and smashed his wooden sword into the blond-haired young woman's face.

"Ouch!" The young woman fell to her knees and rubbed her numb face with an uncomfortable expression. It was as if she had lost all feeling in her face.

"Y-you!" Another player with light brown hair saw his friend getting attacked. He changed his grip on the spear and tried to attack.

But Ambrose was quicker and had closed the distance on him already. It was clear which weapon was better at close quarters—the sword was king in such situations.

"Haaa!" Ambrose roared and smashed the wooden sword across his chest. The light brown-haired man gritted his teeth and fell to the ground.

"Shit!" The brown-haired player heard his friends screaming, but he was occupied by the raging wild hog. However, after seeing where the wild hog was rushing, he had a crazy idea.

Instead of fighting against it, he quickly siderolled and dodged the wild hog's maddening rush.

However, the wild hog didn't stop its rush and saw another target standing upright.

"Eh?" Ambrose turned his gaze to the wild hog and widened his eyes in shock. The wild hog struck him right in the chest with its sharp tusks, which were protruding from its lower jaw.