Martial Online.

Chapter 14: Return

After Ambrose finished assigning the stats, he took out both of his wooden swords and tested his new Dexterity by swinging them around.

He still looked clumsy, but he felt a little bit more comfortable. only a little bit.

'Doubling the Dexterity barely made a dent.' Ambrose thought. 'Well, that was expected. It would be strange if I suddenly could perfectly use dual wielding. It is a long road before I can confidently say that I am a great swordsman.'

Ambrose then moved both swords above his head. 'It's time to test my new stamina as well. I can try increasing the completion rate of Dual Basic Slash at the same time.'

"Basic Slash!"

Walking down the street, a short-haired player yawned. "Yaaaawn. Damn, I feel tired even inside the game? I suppose I should log out soon."

"Heh, I plan on visiting the bathroom before continuing again. I plan on playing the whole night and getting ahead of other players!" His friend said excitedly.

"Well, I have school tomorrow, damn it." The short-haired player clicked his tongue. "I wish I could act sick, but my parents definitely wouldn't let me play either!"

"Unlucky." His friend laughed and patted his shoulder.

The short-haired player rolled his eyes and then noticed a lonely silhouette in the nearby park. He was dual wielding swords while swinging them down. The park was otherwise empty.

"Dual wielding, hah." The short-haired player shook his head. "I tried dual wielding in Viking Online, and it's damn difficult. That guy is wasting his time."

"Hmm." His friend looked towards the park and at the messy, black-haired young man. "I don't know, dual wielding is kind of cool. It is something I can only dream of doing. Unfortunately, it's not very practical when most of the skills are designed for a single sword.

"I went to check other dojos and fighting schools; none of them were teaching dual wielding. It is hard to learn it alone."

"Well, I chose Spearman for a reason. I know most of the players chose the swordsman class, so I think with a spear, I can have an advantage over them." The short-haired player said and turned away from the park.

"I think my real-life body has to empty the bladder. See you tomorrow?" His friend said. He still planned to return after finishing eating and visiting the bathroom, but the short-haired player couldn't.

"Yeah, see ya." The short-haired player opened his interface and logged out. The two players vanished, leaving only floating pixels behind.

In the park, Ambrose lowered both swords with a deep frown.

He looked at the notification bar in front of him.

[Dual Basic Slash - Completion Rate - 60%]

'I can't improve it further. It has been stuck at 60% for the past five minutes. I don't think I can swing these swords even one more time; my stamina is at rock bottom...

'Well, what I learned is that my stamina is greater than before, but still not great. Way better than my real life stamina, though. Also, I don't think I can improve the completion rate because my Dexterity isn't high enough...

'Learning skills really isn't as simple.'

Ambrose stored his swords inside the inventory and sat down with a sweaty forehead.

"It's too late to visit the merchant store. They are closed for tonight, but tomorrow I should go sell the wild hog tusks, the spear, wooden bow, and the five arrows.

"However, for now, there is nothing else to do." Ambrose opened his interface and looked at the logout button. He sighed and pressed on it.

His body parts slowly turned into pixels, spreading around him like a blue fire.

Ambrose turned his gaze towards the crimson moon while his face was turning into pixels.

'See you tomorrow...'

...

After a few seconds of struggling to open his eyes, Jesse managed to see the golden visor of his VR headset. He was inside an uninviting room with a small light coming from the lamp.

The slightly open curtains showed a cityscape with a dark starry sky and a grayish moon. The city of Nocklund had entered that time of night when no one roamed the streets.

Jesse groaned and took out the VR headset, which he then placed gently on top of the bedside table.

After sitting up, he tried to stand up from his bed's edge. However, a sharp pain appeared in the soles of his feet.

Jesse panicked and stopped thinking about standing up. He looked at his legs and painfully scratched the bedsheets with anger and frustration.

After close to ten hours of playing Martial Online, he got the illusion that he was a normal person. Unfortunately, after leaving the magical world, he was struck by the harsh reality.

"Wait..." Jesse spoke with a hoarse tone, as if he hadn't used his voice for quite some time. He looked at his right wrist, which he used to scratch the bedsheet.

He gently rubbed the right wrist, which was supposed to be broken, and only felt a small amount of pain.

"Weird, it's not as bad as before." Jesse let out a sigh. "That's the only good thing, it seems. I guess the fracture wasn't as bad as I thought..."

He then hopped onto the wheelchair and wheeled out of his room. The hallway and downstairs were dark, as his parents had already gone to bed.

However, there was a small light coming from below his little sister's door. She often stayed up late.

Jesse entered the bathroom and finished his business there before moving on to the downstairs. His stomach was rumbling with hunger.

After using the one-seater machine to reach downstairs, he rolled to the kitchen, flicked the lightswitch, and opened the refrigerator's door.

The refrigerator didn't have any leftover food, and there was only one milk bottle left.

Jesse grabbed the milk bottle and placed it on his lap. Then he looked at what he should eat since there wasn't much in there. He soon decided on a piece of bread with butter and jam, then also took out cereal and a bowl from the cupboard.

He carried them on his lap to the table and placed them there. Then he hopped off his wheelchair and onto the wooden chair.

After spreading butter and jam across the piece of bread, he filled the bowl with cereal and poured milk into it.

He started eating the cereal with a spoon while occasionally taking a bite off the tough bread.

Since the downstairs was dark except for the kitchen, the whole place seemed very lonely.

Jesse silently ate while staring at the empty living room and the black TV screen.

After he finished eating, he went to the sink, washed off the bowl and spoon, and then returned them to their rightful place. He then cleaned off the mess he left on the table before returning to the one-seater machine.

He then returned to his room and closed the door right behind him.

The first thing he ensured was that the VR headset was still there. After seeing it intact, he relaxed significantly and hopped back on the bed.

"Is there anything new on the forums..." Jesse yawned and felt tired, but he didn't feel like sleeping before reading some stuff from the forums.

Therefore, he pulled out his phone and opened the forums.