Martial Online.

'It didn't drop anything.' Ambrose sighed in disappointment. Since the flower creature looked quite exotic, he thought the stuff it dropped would be very valuable.

'Is my luck too low?' He thought and rose to his feet. He turned around and expected to see the glowing blue-petaled flower; however, it was gone.

"Huh, where is it?" He crouched on the ground and squinted his eyes while looking at the ordinary-looking flowers. He tried to pinpoint the location of the blue-petaled flower, but it was easier said than done at night.

"Wait, wasn't it this one?" Ambrose moved his head closer and looked intensely at the ordinary-looking flower. He was almost certain that the blue-petaled flower was in that spot right in the ground, but it was now replaced by an ordinary flower.

'Maybe I am mistaken. Perhaps I accidentally stomped over it...' He checked the bottom of his shoes just in case, but there was no sight of the blue-petaled flower.

He stood up in disappointment, scratched his head, and began walking deeper in the forest while forgetting about the strange flower that had mysteriously disappeared.

...

"Yeah, babe." A young woman's giggling voice came from the other side of the phone. "He said that!"

"Ugh." Holly rolled her eyes while lying on her bed with her makeup mirror, bag, and phone in front of her. She was adding black eyeliner while looking at her reflection in the mirror.

"Marty should learn to shut off his mouth." She said with a scoff.

"Hehe." Allison's voice came from the phone. "My lil bro got that VR headset and the game. He hadn't been quiet since. Perhaps I will "borrow" it from him and test it."

"Ugh, are you serious?" Holly rolled her eyes. "I don't understand why anyone would want to spend their time in FAKE world where they can't do anything productive."

"Hehe, same as always, Holly~" Allison's giggle sounded from the phone's speakers. "Didn't you say your brother bought one? You said something about seeing him lying on bed with a VR headset in his head while you went to stea... I mean, borrow money?"

"Yeah, and?" Holly returned the makeup items to her bag. "That game is tailor-made for useless people like him. He can't even get work with his condition."

"You could "borrow" his VR headset and join me in playing!" Allison said excitedly. "Let's have some fun!"

"Hmm..." Holly frowned and looked at her beautiful reflection in the mirror. She then turned around and stood up. "Wait second."

"Alrighty..." The playful voice came from the phone.

Holly left her room and entered a dimly lit hallway. She then approached the nearby door, grabbed the door handle, and opened the door.

Her round eyes widened in surprise after seeing a young man lying on the bed with a VR headset on his head. The gold visor was still lit up with light, sending rays of light around the very dark room.

'He is still playing?' Holly scoffed and walked to the bedside. She looked down at the young man with an icy gaze. "How far have you fallen, brother."

She then turned around, stepped out of the door, and took one last look at the bed before closing the door.

The darkness filled the room again.

...

"Hmm?" Ambrose stopped walking and turned his gaze to the crimson moon. He narrowed his eyes before shaking his head and continuing walking.

He had soon walked deeper into the forest than with RedBand. He was being very careful without dropping his guard even once.

"Are there really not many animals awake this late?" Ambrose thought aloud as he soon stopped walking. He had crossed a sizeable distance already, but the flower monster was the only creature he encountered.

He let out a long yawn and pinched his glabella to try to shake off the sleepiness.

After opening his eyes, he happened to catch a glimpse of something.

"What was that..." Ambrose moved, dodged the branches that were the size of an adult man's arm, and came across a cave entrance.

The cave entrance was arc-shaped, and the interior was fully dark. The cave was located on a small mountain that wasn't too high or too wide.

Ambrose was certain that he could walk around the mountain in fifteen minutes or less.

"Hmm, a stone tablet?" Ambrose walked towards the stone tablet that was nailed to the mountain wall right beside the entrance.

[The Leaderboard of Crow Cave]

[1. Anthon]

[2. Cauldron]

[3. Ignite]

'Wait, aren't they the ones who killed me?' Ambrose looked around the dark forest with fear of the unknown. He expected to see those three young men jump out of the forest and ambush him.

However, after seeing nothing, he realized something and thought about it thoroughly.

'They are the only ones who have completed this trial, or whatever this is. It might be the reason why they were able to purchase a steel sword so soon!'

Ambrose saw that there were ten spots on the leaderboard; three of them were occupied by the three young men.

'Maybe only the ten players who completed this trial first receive a prize?' He theorized, as he hadn't heard about this on forums. 'Whatever it is, I have to try this. This might be the way to reach level 3!'

Ambrose took one last look at the dark surrounding forest, then checked his inventory and stats. After a few seconds of thought, he decided to take the risk and enter the cave.

As he took the first step into the cave, he felt the cold wind brushing through him as if he didn't exist on this plane of existence.

Ambrose froze and glanced over his shoulder at the dark forest. He could see a faint crimson light descending from the sky. He then turned his gaze back to the cave and started walking forward.

His footstep echo bounced across the rocky walls, and soon Ambrose saw light at the end of the path. He picked up his pace and soon arrived at the end of the cave.

There was a torch with fire, enough to light up a small area around him.

Ambrose then saw a closed granite door.

'That must be where the trial begins...' He thought and took the torch from the ground to light his path. He then opened the heavy granite door and saw a dimly lit hallway, as if the walls were built by red magma.

Ambrose entered the hallway, and the granite door closed behind him with a loud thud.

Ding, ding.

[Welcome to the Trial of Crow Cave]

[There are crows living inside the Crow Cave. Kill them all; do not leave a single one alive, because they carry an incurable disease that is deadly for residents of Amaterasu. If they escape the cave, their disease would carry over to Amaterasu, killing many in the process!]

[Good luck!]

'Wait, seriously?' Ambrose's expression was a sight to behold. 'If I fail, many NPCs will be dead because of me? So, failure has big consequences in this game.

'My guess might be correct. Charm helps me connect with NPCs better, giving me more quests and other stuff. If I fail, my reputation will reach rock bottom among NPC...

'I can't let that happen, and it seems Charm isn't as useless as I thought if my guess is correct. Just killing creatures isn't a good strategy. From what I heard in forums, quests were an important part of increasing strength in Viking and Ember Online.

'I doubt it is far from the truth in this game either.

'For now, I have to complete this trial. If I fail, my future will be very rocky.'

With wooden sword and torch in hand, he started walking down the hallway.