?Jesse plopped down onto his gaming chair and let out a deep sigh.
He was still thinking about his newly acquired fame, and he wasn't sure how he should feel about it.
Tap, tap.
He turned to the computer and tapped his index finger against the mouse, contemplating what to do next.
He hadn't returned to Martial Online after the second round had ended, and therefore hadn't talked with Moriarty yet.
However, it was still two days before the third round started, and he wanted to get good rest before that.
"What to do…"
Jesse thought, staring at the screen with a blank stare. In that moment, he remembered the email and went to check it out.
He read it silently inside his mind and looked at the link that led him somewhere.
'It could give some kind of virus.'
Jesse thought, but his curiosity bested him, and he gently double-clicked on the link, opening a strange website.
It was a website with a dark atmosphere and eerie music playing in the background. The website's background had an image of two spears clashing, and the sparks coming from the weapons acted as the website's main animation.
It looked like the sparks were slowly descending towards the bottom of the website, like a rain of fire.
Jesse then looked at the center of the website, where he had to type in his account name, real name, and email.
It wasn't asking for his password, which made Jesse a little bit more relieved but also slightly concerned as the site asked for his real name.
'Fuck it, let's try.'
He typed in his account name—Ambrose—then followed with his real name, and finally his email.
After typing it all, he pressed enter, and the website changed to another page. This time, the page only showed a strange code that could be added in the Virtual Marketplace.
Virtual Marketplace was the place where one could purchase all the games, etc. It had a place for code redemption or input, where users could enter the code to unlock specific content or bonuses.
'At least the code is simple enough.'
Jesse closed the computer and stood up while stretching his arms.
He then headed to his bed and laid gently down, letting out a relieved sigh.
After a few moments of relaxing from his previous training session, he took out his headset and put it around his head.
He then pressed the button on the side of the headset, and his consciousness traversed into the virtual world.
…
Ambrose's eyes fluttered open, and his vision opened up to a blank expanse of white.
In that moment, the holographic screen appeared in front of him. It had the game 'Martial Online' as the first option.
Ambrose had put it on the front page, as it would take him around a second to enter the game this way.
However, now, for the first time ever, he browsed past 'Martial Online' with no intention of going there and instead found the place where he should apply the code.
After typing down the code, he pressed the floating enter button with his finger and watched as the surroundings suddenly turned dark.
'What is happening? Did it work?'
Ambrose looked around in confusion, but then he reappeared in a different location altogether.
He was standing on a strange podium, surrounded by a dungeon-like atmosphere with chains hanging from the walls and the smell of dampness filling the air.
At that moment, he heard the sound of wailing coming from the distance, as if there were a group of people crying.
'What in the world?' Ambrose thought as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.
Then, a blood-red-colored holographic screen appeared in front of him from thin air. The screen showed options to choose from.
[Welcome to 'All-Online']
[You have five options to choose from!]
[It will determine your starting point]
[Choose wisely!]
[Continue]
Ambrose read it silently through, and after he was done, he pressed continue, and then the five options appeared on the screen.
At first, he didn't understand what they were about, but it didn't take long for him to realize. The five options were his starting point.
***
[1. Prisoner]
[2. Peasant]
[3. Beggar]
[4. Criminal Noble]
[5. Murder Victim]
***
'What are these options even?' Ambrose's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he scanned the choices before him.
He then pressed the description button, as he couldn't possibly make his decision so hastily after seeing these kinds of options.
No matter what his starting point was, it was from the bottom of society, it seemed.
***
[Prisoner: You have been convicted of a hideous crime and are sentenced to be hanged. Before getting caught, you were a powerful 'Executioner', but your greed caused you to commit a murder of aristocracy.
[Prisoner has the highest starting stats but also the highest difficulty of surviving through the first phase]
***
[Peasant: You have been living humbly as a simple farmer, working the land day in and day out to provide for your family. However, you had always dreamed of rising above your station and joining the ranks of the aristocracy.
[Peasant has low talent and low starting stats. However, it has one of the easiest first phases of the game]
***
[Beggar: The world has been treating you roughly, and you have spent the last decade struggling to make ends, and you are known as the Dirty Beggar.
[Beggar has talent slightly above average, great stealth skills, and decent starting stats caused by the daily fighting that has occurred in the slums of the Great City.
[However, Beggar has created a large number of enemies that are after him. Surviving the first phase is difficult]
***
[Criminal Noble: You were once a powerful and wealthy aristocrat; now you have lost everything to the rival family, who killed your family, stole your land, and falsely accused you of a crime you didn't commit.
[You have been sentenced to live the rest of your life in Great City's most notorious prison.
[Criminal Noble has excellent moneymaking skills and high starting stats, but escaping the prison and the determined destiny of rotting there forever is extremely difficult!]
***
[Murder Victim: You were a respected member of Great City, known for your generosity and philanthropy. However, you happened to be murdered for your small pouch of coin that you always carried with you for charity purposes.
[You will reincarnate into Murder Victim and take his identity, but you have officially been declared dead, and the world is highly against witchcraft and might accuse you of it.
[Committing witchcraft is punishable by death.
[If your killer finds out you're alive, it will find you and kill you again!
[Murder Victim has a decent talent factor and mediocre starting stats. However, you've got high charm and luck. You can easily make friends and have very high speech skills that can help you escape sticky situations!
[Surviving in Great City will be extremely difficult!]
***
'Hmm…'
Ambrose frowned, deep in thought, as he sucked in all the information presented to him.
Every starting position had cons and pros, but some outweighed others, such as Prisoner.
He would be a powerful person right away, which would be excellent, but it didn't matter because he was going to be hanged.
Even if he miraculously escaped, he would be hunted down for the rest of his life, and he wouldn't be able to live in peace.
It wasn't just difficult to survive; it would be difficult to do anything, such as increasing his strength.
'I guess I'll scratch the idea of starting as Prisoner…'
?Jesse plopped down onto his gaming chair and let out a deep sigh.
He was still thinking about his newly acquired fame, and he wasn't sure how he should feel about it.
Tap, tap.
He turned to the computer and tapped his index finger against the mouse, contemplating what to do next.
He hadn't returned to Martial Online after the second round had ended, and therefore hadn't talked with Moriarty yet.
However, it was still two days before the third round started, and he wanted to get good rest before that.
"What to do…"
Jesse thought, staring at the screen with a blank stare. In that moment, he remembered the email and went to check it out.
He read it silently inside his mind and looked at the link that led him somewhere.
'It could give some kind of virus.'
Jesse thought, but his curiosity bested him, and he gently double-clicked on the link, opening a strange website.
It was a website with a dark atmosphere and eerie music playing in the background. The website's background had an image of two spears clashing, and the sparks coming from the weapons acted as the website's main animation.
It looked like the sparks were slowly descending towards the bottom of the website, like a rain of fire.
Jesse then looked at the center of the website, where he had to type in his account name, real name, and email.
It wasn't asking for his password, which made Jesse a little bit more relieved but also slightly concerned as the site asked for his real name.
'Fuck it, let's try.'
He typed in his account name—Ambrose—then followed with his real name, and finally his email.
After typing it all, he pressed enter, and the website changed to another page. This time, the page only showed a strange code that could be added in the Virtual Marketplace.
Virtual Marketplace was the place where one could purchase all the games, etc. It had a place for code redemption or input, where users could enter the code to unlock specific content or bonuses.
'At least the code is simple enough.'
Jesse closed the computer and stood up while stretching his arms.
He then headed to his bed and laid gently down, letting out a relieved sigh.
After a few moments of relaxing from his previous training session, he took out his headset and put it around his head.
He then pressed the button on the side of the headset, and his consciousness traversed into the virtual world.
…
Ambrose's eyes fluttered open, and his vision opened up to a blank expanse of white.
In that moment, the holographic screen appeared in front of him. It had the game 'Martial Online' as the first option.
Ambrose had put it on the front page, as it would take him around a second to enter the game this way.
However, now, for the first time ever, he browsed past 'Martial Online' with no intention of going there and instead found the place where he should apply the code.
After typing down the code, he pressed the floating enter button with his finger and watched as the surroundings suddenly turned dark.
'What is happening? Did it work?'
Ambrose looked around in confusion, but then he reappeared in a different location altogether.
He was standing on a strange podium, surrounded by a dungeon-like atmosphere with chains hanging from the walls and the smell of dampness filling the air.
At that moment, he heard the sound of wailing coming from the distance, as if there were a group of people crying.
'What in the world?' Ambrose thought as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.
Then, a blood-red-colored holographic screen appeared in front of him from thin air. The screen showed options to choose from.
[Welcome to 'All-Online']
[You have five options to choose from!]
[It will determine your starting point]
[Choose wisely!]
[Continue]
Ambrose read it silently through, and after he was done, he pressed continue, and then the five options appeared on the screen.
At first, he didn't understand what they were about, but it didn't take long for him to realize. The five options were his starting point.
***
[1. Prisoner]
[2. Peasant]
[3. Beggar]
[4. Criminal Noble]
[5. Murder Victim]
***
'What are these options even?' Ambrose's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he scanned the choices before him.
He then pressed the description button, as he couldn't possibly make his decision so hastily after seeing these kinds of options.
No matter what his starting point was, it was from the bottom of society, it seemed.
***
[Prisoner: You have been convicted of a hideous crime and are sentenced to be hanged. Before getting caught, you were a powerful 'Executioner', but your greed caused you to commit a murder of aristocracy.
[Prisoner has the highest starting stats but also the highest difficulty of surviving through the first phase]
***
[Peasant: You have been living humbly as a simple farmer, working the land day in and day out to provide for your family. However, you had always dreamed of rising above your station and joining the ranks of the aristocracy.
[Peasant has low talent and low starting stats. However, it has one of the easiest first phases of the game]
***
[Beggar: The world has been treating you roughly, and you have spent the last decade struggling to make ends, and you are known as the Dirty Beggar.
[Beggar has talent slightly above average, great stealth skills, and decent starting stats caused by the daily fighting that has occurred in the slums of the Great City.
[However, Beggar has created a large number of enemies that are after him. Surviving the first phase is difficult]
***
[Criminal Noble: You were once a powerful and wealthy aristocrat; now you have lost everything to the rival family, who killed your family, stole your land, and falsely accused you of a crime you didn't commit.
[You have been sentenced to live the rest of your life in Great City's most notorious prison.
[Criminal Noble has excellent moneymaking skills and high starting stats, but escaping the prison and the determined destiny of rotting there forever is extremely difficult!]
***
[Murder Victim: You were a respected member of Great City, known for your generosity and philanthropy. However, you happened to be murdered for your small pouch of coin that you always carried with you for charity purposes.
[You will reincarnate into Murder Victim and take his identity, but you have officially been declared dead, and the world is highly against witchcraft and might accuse you of it.
[Committing witchcraft is punishable by death.
[If your killer finds out you're alive, it will find you and kill you again!
[Murder Victim has a decent talent factor and mediocre starting stats. However, you've got high charm and luck. You can easily make friends and have very high speech skills that can help you escape sticky situations!
[Surviving in Great City will be extremely difficult!]
***
'Hmm…'
Ambrose frowned, deep in thought, as he sucked in all the information presented to him.
Every starting position had cons and pros, but some outweighed others, such as Prisoner.
He would be a powerful person right away, which would be excellent, but it didn't matter because he was going to be hanged.
Even if he miraculously escaped, he would be hunted down for the rest of his life, and he wouldn't be able to live in peace.
It wasn't just difficult to survive; it would be difficult to do anything, such as increasing his strength.
'I guess I'll scratch the idea of starting as Prisoner…'
