First Steps [Edited]

As the sound of the voice faded, a blinding light appeared in my vision, turning it completely white.

After a few seconds, the lights faded and I appeared in the middle of a bustling town in which tons of players were spawning around me and townsfolk were going about their daily lives.

[New location discovered]

[Welcome to Arkville Town!]

Intrigued at the system notifications that greeted me, I curiously surveyed my surroundings, looking for anything of interest.

The buildings around the fountain looked archaic, strikingly similar to 19th century infrastructure depicted in the History documentaries my school had us watch back in middle school.

The blue sky was speckled with fluffy white clouds that lazily drifted under the warm and gentle summer breeze.

The roads extending from the fountain shimmered slightly under the sweltering heat of the sun. The hubbub that was characteristic of a bustling crowd filled the air, easy to zone out.

It truly felt no different from Earth. What breathtaking realism.

After admiring the scenery, I began searching for players looking like Logan and Sage. I remembered the robotic feminine voice mention that I was spawned at Arkville Town due to my geographical location, so going by that they should've spawned not far for me.

I walked around the fountain, looking for them amongst the horde of players spawning and fortunately, a few minutes later, I found them leaning on the side of a building at the edge of the plaza. Upon approaching them, I inspected their player information.

[Apollo | Lvl 1 | Ranger]

[Krystal | Lvl 1 | Mage]

"Sage, Logan, is that you?" I inquired, trying to verify their identities.

"Yeah its us." Sage smiled. Then, she gave me a look, "I like the new name. Though, it seems you'll be joining Logan on Olympus's blacklist." she chuckled with an amused expression.

"Tch" I scowled in response, "Those pricks can piss off. Honestly don't know why they're so pressed about players using gamer tags referencing Greek gods. They're not even fucking Greek!"

The contempt in my voice was clear, and it caused both Sage and Logan to laugh.

[☤ Olympus] was one of the largest elite guilds currently in existence. The power and influence they held was colossal and just the mere mention of their name invoked fear in many. They were a guild we had considerable history with, most of which was not good.

Within the gaming community, they were notorious for persecuting players with name tags related to greek mythology. Any player with said name tag would be immediately blacklisted by the guild and actively hunted down by its members.

Most of the time, they usually gave the players two options: change their names or remain blacklisted, which would mean that they would be PK'ed on sight by [☤ Olympus] members.

Knowing this, I still used the name 'Perseus' because I knew I was untouchable. Logan and I weren't just any run-of-the-mill players. We were well known pros that commanded an elite guild that didn't lose out to [☤ Olympus] in the slightest.

So, the most they could do was black list us, which ,sadly for them, wasn't much. They couldn't persecute us without directly eliciting a large-scale guild war and that was a lose-lose situation for both parties since we possessed similar strength.

Guild wars between elite guilds were cataclysmic, and in my opinion, were to be avoided at all costs. The consequences they held were far-reaching.

"You can say that again." Logan cackled, "Those fuckers are too overbearing. The whole gamer tag thing is just downright stupid. Though, it is what it is."

He said, and then smirked at me, "And I agree with Sage. Your new name is cool; it's way better than your last one..."

I shuddered at the memory of my previous name. It was a highly embarrassing topic, "Please...don't remind me."

Sage giggled seeing my discomfort. "I liked it though..." she mumbled, and Logan laughed,

"Really?" he chuckled, eyeing her.

"Y-"

"Can we stop talking about my old name?" I coughed and interjected, giving both of them intent looks.

"Alright." Logan laughed and relented. Then, he stood up straight and cracked his neck, "Let's split up now. We need to stay ahead of the pack and adapt to the game's mechanics quickly.

I say we skip the tutorial the Training Hall offers. Learning as we play is probably more fun. Once we reach level 20, we can transfer the guild, and start playing together. How does that sound?"

Logan explained his rough plan for the early game. It was what we usually did, so I had no problem with it.

"Sounds like a plan." I mumbled in agreement. Then, I looked at Sage who immediately sensed my gaze.

"Yeah, I agree as well. For now, it's a solid plan." she voiced and nodded.

"Excellent." Logan smiled, "Let's add each other and be on our way then."

Saying that, he pulled out his system interface, causing Sage and I to do the same.

[Apollo wants to be your friend. Accept? Y | N]

[Krystal wants to be your friend. Accept? Y | N]

I quickly accepted their requests and waited for them to do the same. Once we were all set, we used our maps to make our way to the nearest town gate. On the way, we came across many players, most of whom looked like they were headed to the Training Hall.

"Alright, lets split here." I suddenly said, the moment we went past the town gate. I turned to face Sage and Logan, "Try to find areas with few people so you can grind the mobs efficiently. I'll catch you guys later."

I smiled at them, and without waiting for a response, whirled around and walked in the direction of the dense forest right outside the town gate.

[New location discovered: Nightbloom Forest]

A system notification greeted me upon entering the forest. Realizing I hadn't checked my character status yet, I immediately mumbled "Status" and a translucent blue screen immediately materialized out of thin air in front of me.

[Perseus | Lvl 1| Warrior]

[Race: Human (Mortal)]

[Exp: 0/250]

[Title(s): N/A]

[Job(s): N/A]

[Alignment: Neutral | Reputation: Normal]

[Stats]

[Strength(STR) - 11]

[Agility(AGI) -13]

[Intelligence(INT) - 10]

[Stamina(STA) - 14]

[Vitality(VIT) - 10]

[HP: 500]

[Stat Points: 0]

[Skill Points: 0]

[Skills/Perks: Slash (F) Lv.1]

[Inventory: Steel Sword (common)]

'About as much as I expected.'

My starting stats didn't surprise me much. [Transcendent] stats worked by synchronizing with a player's real time physical and mental state...almost like a metric for one's health. According to the game notes, 10 was the value for the average human.

Me having significantly above average values for my Agility and Stamina made sense since I was not only a seasoned pro-player, but also a member of my high school's varsity basketball team.

Asides from that, the status screen was relatively normal, though I became intrigued upon seeing the Slash Skill. I clicked on it to see what it was.

「Slash (Lv. 1) (Active)

Skill Rank: F

Skill Description: The basic skill for every warrior out there. Deals 50% of user's Attack Power through a powerful strike that can be executed in any direction.

Cooldown: N/A」

Skills and Perks in [Transcendent] were ranked from F to SSS. F ranked skills were the basic skills of the game and did very little damage in comparison to the rest of the other grades. SSS rank skills were on the border of reaching the power of gods; such skills could raze entire Empires to the ground easily.

I was confused on what Attack Power was, so I clicked on the strength stat to see if there was anything about it there.

Surely enough, there was.

「Attack Power (Strength x10): 100

Description: The damage inflicted upon enemies」

After going through my status, I took out the steel sword from my inventory, unsheathed it and attached the sheath to the holster on my waist.

I decided to inspect the sword to see its stats.

[Standard Steel Sword]

[Rarity: Common] [Tier C]

[Description: A standard steel sword forged by your average blacksmith. Somewhat obsolete.

[Stats: +10 Attack Power]

[Durability: 100%]

'Let's see if I still got it in me...'

Looking at the sword with interest, I started swinging it randomly, trying to get a feel of the fluidity of my movements.

Saying they were fluid would be an understatement, because I felt absolutely no resistance or stiffness whatsoever. The sword even felt like an extension of my own hand.

'Sweet'

Satisfied, I tried out the slash skill and immediately felt the automatic movement take over. Mid-skill, I tried to change the movement by increasing the speed and force of the swing towards the end.

Once I did that, I felt the automation turn off as I modified the slash.

[Skill: Slash has leveled up (Lv.2)]

Smiling, I continued to swing randomly for a few minutes. Then, I suddenly got an idea and decided to try it out. I adopted a back right sword stance and swung upwards to the left rapidly.

As I felt my movement coming to an end, I quickly rotated my body and launched myself off the ground. As my body rotated, I swung my sword rapidly, completing 2 cycles of a rotating slash.

[New skill created, please name the skill]

[Skill Rank: D]

[Skill Description: Deals damage in 3 consecutive slashes with each slash increasing damage by 50%, starting from the first slash which deals 100% of user's attack power.

Cooldown: 30 seconds]

I smiled in satisfaction at the new skill I had just created. It looked flashy too. I quickly named it Cyclone slash.

[Congratulations on being the first player to create a skill! +5 levels as reward]

[Congratulations on being the first player to reach level 5. Reward: exclusive skill or perk]

[Hidden requirement activated, exclusive perk reward: One with the Sword]

[You have leveled up (Lvl.6)]

A wave of notifications greeted me once I named my new skills. I was stunned seeing the +5 level up reward; it was quite generous. Subconsciously, my lips curved up into a maniacal grin as I checked my new perk.

[Perk: One with the Sword (Passive)]

Perk rank: S

Perk Description: Your talent with the sword is nearly unrivaled in all of Arcadia. x2 experience in leveling up sword related skills. Critical rate with swords + 10% . Increased ability to comprehend and see through sword skills. Increased affinity with swords, making it easier for swords to accept you as their master.

Hidden requirements: First player to create a sword-related skill, Tutorial skipped, Synchronization rate above 94%]

Only one thought came to my mind upon seeing the perk. Overpowered! I was especially surprised at the hidden requirements. To think minor decisions could reward perks as godly as this one. I was ecstatic. I made a reminder to myself to thank Logan for suggesting to skip the tutorial. What a gain!

Still grinning, I opened my status to allot my stat points. It seemed like I get 2 per level. I put 4 in Strength, 3 in Agility and the remaining 3 in Stamina. As a warrior, those three stats were by far the most important for the early game.

I also checked how my Slash was affected after it gained a level.

「Slash (Lv. 2) (Active)

Skill Rank: F

Skill Description: The basic skill for every warrior out there. Deals 60% of user's Attack Power through a powerful strike that can be executed in any direction.

Cooldown: N/A」

'Not bad.'

Leveling up Slash increased the damage multiplier by 10% which was fair.

'Let's test out the combat...'

With eyes full of excitement, I made my way deeper into Nightbloom forest in search of mobs to kill. After walking for a bit, I stumbled upon a small clearing with 3 dog-like creatures sauntering around its center. I inspected them as I concealed myself behind a tree.

[Ravenous Wolf | Lvl.2]

[HP: 150 (100%)]

Seeing that I was at a higher level than the creature, I decided to use it as a warm up so I unsheathed my sword and stepped into the wolves's view.

It only took a moment for the wolves to notice me and once they did, they growled and quickly approached me. All the while baring their fangs and waiting for the right moment to pounce on me.

'Eager now, are we?'

I adopted a close right sword stance and patiently waited for one of the wolves to strike. I didn't have to wait long because the front wolf looked like it was tired of waiting and immediately lunged at me.

Eyes full of focus, I effortlessly side-stepped out of the trajectory of the first wolf and slashed at its neck. As I slashed, I noticed the other two wolves lunge at me.

Realizing that I would not be able to dodge the attacks of the other two wolves if I continued my slash, I quickly changed into a Cyclone Slash, mid-skill.

*Whoosh!* *Slit!*

I easily decapitated the first wolf and eviscerated the other two wolves, who got caught in my cyclone slash, at once.

-260! -275! -330!

[You have gained 90 Experience]

[Your «Cyclone Slash» mastery has increased]

All three wolves immediately died and disintegrated into particles. They didn't drop anything but EXP, which was expected since they are low level mobs.

The experience itself was low, probably because I was a higher level than the wolves; they each dropped 30 EXP.

As they disintegrated, I realized the importance of synchro rates. If I reacted just a bit slower or was unable to change skills mid-skill quickly enough, I would've lost a big chunk of my HP since I was defenseless and turned the tide of battle to their favor.

'Let's keep grinding.'

For the next 2 hours, I continued hunting beasts, polishing my sword skills, gaining experience and familiarizing myself with the game mechanics.

My slash reached Lvl 5, which was ridiculous considering I was barely 3 hours into the game. Seriously, the [One with the Sword] perk was overpowered. Finishing my last battle, I checked my status.

[Perseus | Lvl 7 | Warrior]

[Exp: 2,137/4,000]

[Race: Human (Mortal)]

[Title(s): N/A]

[Job(s): N/A]

[Alignment: Neutral | Reputation: Normal]

[Stats]

[STR - 15]

[AGI -16]

[INT - 10]

[STA - 17]

[VIT- 10]

[HP: 500]

[Stat Points: 2]

[Skill Points: 0]

[Skills/Perks: Slash (F) Lv.5 | One with the Sword (S) | Cyclone Slash (D) Lv.2 ]

[Inventory: Wolf fang x 40, wild boar hides x25, Goblin eyes x30, Goblin mage staff (common), Rusted sword (common)]

I continued to walk deeper into the forest. Frankly, I didn't know how deep I had already come but I didn't care about it currently so I continued walking.

Fighting was highly addictive, and I was always left wanting more at the end of every battle. The combat mechanics were extremely immersive and fluid.

After a few more minutes of aimless walking, I suddenly started hearing sounds of an ongoing battle.

'Wonder what's going on over there...'

Curious, I made my way towards the source of the ruckus and as I neared it, the sounds became more vivid. They sounded like metal clashing with metal. Once I was near enough, I became slack-jawed at the sight of the battle….rather, the person battling.