Martial Online.



"Suicide Swordsman, are you kidding me?" Ambrose pinched his glabella while his eyebrows twitched. He thought the new class name sounded ridiculous.

However, after a second thought, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, Kill skill is kill or get killed. It is somewhat a kamikaze-styled attack, so I guess it fits." He thought and then checked the description of the class and looked very satisfied.

"All damage suffered will be reduced by 50%!

"My health has increased by 100, now being on 275!

"Health Recovery Items have a 100% increase, meaning all the steaming buns I eat won't give 10 HP but 20 instead!"

Ambrose felt like a tank. It wasn't far-fetched to say that his survivability had increased by tons. He was even more of a tank than Felixar from RedBand's party!

As he gleefully checked the class description, a bright light appeared near the ceiling.

Light blue pixels appeared from thin air and gathered in the same place, soon forming the outline of a thick book. 

The book soon had a dark brown leather cover with yellowish pages.

The book dropped from the ceiling and landed on Ambrose's lap.

"What is this?" He looked at the book on his arm with a raised eyebrow. He traced his finger across the leather hardcover and opened the first page, which was luckily written in a language he understood.

"Book of Suicide Swordsman..."

There was nothing else on the first page. It was simply the title of the book.

He then tried flipping to the second page, but was unsuccessful. It was like the pages were glued to each other. 

He didn't want to rip the pages and therefore stopped trying to open more pages.

'Why would the game give me a book I can't even open?' Ambrose wondered and closed the book with a slam. He turned to the backside, but there was nothing written there.

'I suppose there is something written in it, but the game won't allow me to see any of it yet.' He concluded and placed the book in his inventory.

After closing the inventory and checking his interface, he was certain that there was nothing else to do. It had been a long day, filled with events that forever changed his life.

'Alice... Even if she didn't mean her words, they still hurt. I, however, know that I am nobody.

'Zahhak, they are mistaken if I fall into desperation because of them. Their arrogance could even penetrate the sky. They think that no one can touch him and that they are invincible.'

Ambrose cracked his knuckles. 'I will burn their fucking place down. Cerberus, I will leave you last, so you can witness your legacy wither away.'

,,,

Moonlight entered the apartment through curtainless windows.

A young man groaned as he removed the VR headset from his head. He let out a yawn and rubbed his eyes to get rid of the grogginess.

Jesse then placed the VR headset down on the desk and looked at the curtainless windows. 

He could see the light of nearby houses, street lamps, and the moon hovering in the distance.

'I have to purchase curtains...' He thought, but then he felt very uncomfortable. He felt the need for food and a bathroom.

Jesse stood up and took one step forward, but stopped immediately after. He wasn't feeling pain, but something else. 

He was feeling refreshed, as if he had just taken a bath in the famous healing baths.

He felt very refreshed, like he was floating among soft cotton clouds.

'This feels so good.' Jesse closed his eyes and let out a satisfied sigh. He had grown used to feeling pain somewhere in his body almost every moment of his life, but now there wasn't a single pain.

With a satisfied expression, he went to the bathroom to empty his bladder and take a shower. He then moved over to the kitchen to feast on some microwave food.

After dumping the leftover microwave food in the garbage bin, he returned to his room and laid down on the bed with his phone in hand.

He opened the phone and went straight to the forums in case there was anything interesting.

"Yawn..." Jesse yawned and looked through the forum with a bored expression on his face. It took the sight of one forum post to get rid of his boredom.

There was a post called "Zahhak's New Bounty Announcement!"

After opening the post, he saw what it was about.

Jesse's lips turned dry, and his heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. 

The announcement showed his picture with all the necessary descriptions. The post was created by a person called "Redheart."

'Redheart, she is a Zahhak member, if I remember correctly.' Jesse, with a beating heartbeat, scrolled down to the comment section. He wondered what everyone was talking about.

To his shock, most of the comments were laughing at the person called Ambrose, calling him a brainless fool. 

In their opinion, whoever made enemies out of Zahhak was destined to have humiliating end.

Then, there were people who claimed to be bounty hunters. They were very excited about the prospect of acquiring 5,000 silvers by just giving a hint of Ambrose's whereabouts.

'Why are so many people on their side? I thought no one liked them.' Jesse frowned and wondered whether these people were the so-called hardcore fans of villains.

There were people, mostly teenagers, who idolized villains. They thought they were cool and badass for doing whatever they wanted. 

Also, the idea of only killing players didn't even enter their minds, as it sounded ludicrous.

That's why, Zahhak was so unique group of players. They have haters, but they also have one of the most loyal fan bases in the world.

Jesse closed the phone and put it on the charger. He then looked at the dark ceiling with a heavy look. If Zahhak had as big a following as he thought, his life would become much harder as a result.

'Bring it on.' Jesse closed his eyes and slowly drifted to sleep. 'Cerberus...'

...

On the following morning, Jesse put on his new clothes, which he purchased from La Merch. 

When he looked at himself in the mirror, he thought he looked very respectable with his black buttonless jacket, white shirt, and black trousers, which looked like it was made from the most exquisite material in the world.

He then put a silver-rimmed wristwatch on his right wrist. It was an old watch of his, but he rarely used it. Now, he did to give himself more adult look.

After slipping his feet into his shoes, he checked himself again in the mirror. With his well-toned, tall figure, he looked like a prince from a fairytale. However, his face didn't suit the rest of the look. It was something he couldn't do anything about.

There was the possibility of using makeup to change the complexion of his skin, but he didn't want to do that. 

This was his face, which he had to live with. He was tired of trying to hide it and just wanted to be himself again.

'This is me, and I don't have to be anyone else.' Jesse straightened his sleeves and looked at his face in the mirror. He showed a smile that came from the bottom of his heart.

He then walked to the door, opened it, and left the house.