“Hm?”
Laden’s feet stopped. As he played the tutorial, he already defeated three slimes, so he had to kill seven more to finish it. However, suddenly, the pouncing slimes ceased its movements.
‘What?’
He moved backwards feeling some danger. Right in front of Laden, the slimes melted to a puddle of sticky liquid. His eyelids flicked.
A green liquid soared up. Then, a completely different monster appeared in front of Laden.
“Oh, shit.”
Laden didn’t even notice he let out a swear.
The orc, wearing only a piece of cloth just covering its crotch, observed its surroundings.
It was not his first time seeing an orc. He came across so many orcs he was quite sick of it. Green orc, gray orc, red orc, sorcerer orc, Orc Lord and so on. The number of orc types Laden knew easily surpassed ten. The orcs in virtual reality games were not so different than those of PC online games from dozens of years ago, as the base were the same.
‘This is indeed more realistic.’
It seems that technology did progress. These were his thoughts while seeing the orc. It may be the same Orc, but Valhalla orcs seemed more stupid than Fantasia orcs.
‘No, putting that aside. Why is there an orc here?’
The tutorial was the same for every player. It was to kill ten slimes. It has been 1 year since Valhalla was released, but there was not a single reported case of a monster besides slimes appearing during the tutorial.
So, why did an orc appear now? Laden’s eyes met the orc’s eyes. For a brief moment they froze.
“Grwah!”
The orc let out a loud growl. The look in its eyes changed, it showed pure enmity. Laden backstepped. It was clearly different from a slime, slimes do not release killing intent. That was to prevent from scaring a beginner.
But an orc did. Laden felt a tinkling feeling on his skin and frowned.
[You are being exposed to an orc’s killing intent.]
A warning voice sounded on his head. Oh, so it was like that. Laden realized it late. It was Laden’s Unique Skill, Predation Detection, what sensed its killing intent.
“…Is it a bug?”
The orc approached slowly. Laden grumbled in a low voice observing it. Don’t I have to report it? He opened the system window and searched for a bug report button.
However, before he could find it, he closed it and sneered.
‘Rather, it is a good opportunity.’
This was his thoughts. Just punching a slime wasn’t enough. Laden narrowed his eyes watching the orc getting closer to him. It (orc) did not rush right away and continued to observe his movement, it was quite weary of him.
‘I have to adjust my sensation settings anyway. Also, I still didn’t get a grasp on my Unique Skills…’
He could report this error later. First, he would try to fight this orc. Laden clenched his hands to a fist. The backed foot advanced again.
And he kicked the ground.
Level 1 avatar. 10 as the fixed basic stat. There had been many researches that compares a virtual reality avatar’s body and a normal real body, and it was still a very active area.
Based on these researches, a normal male adult who did not go through a special training program would be: strength 10, agility 5 and HP 8.
In other words, a basic avatar at level 1 was still superior than a normal body.
‘It is fast.’
He was not used to it yet. There was a difference between running in an avatar’s body and in a real body. The agility stat was what influenced the acceleration capacity in Valhalla. So, now Laden was moving in twice the speed of his real body.
Nevertheless, he got used to it in the next moment. Kwajik! After kicking the ground, the soaring body thrusted a knee right on the orc’s face. It swayed a little and tilted to the back.
Yet it did not fall down. The attack was clean and direct, but it did not cause enough damage. The orc recovered soon and Laden regained his balance after landing on the ground.
‘Kaargh!’
The orc shouted angrily. The nose that was hit was bleeding, bright red blood leaking. It threw the bat it was holding on Laden’s head.
Laden did not know, but the monster he was facing was a level 5 orc. In normal cases, he would have to finish the tutorial and go to the hunting field outside the first city to encounter it.
It was a huge difference. In Valhalla, after entering the first city, the player could choose a basic class and learn a new skill. Which meant that when a player encountered an orc at the hunting zone, they would already possess an attack skill.
Fighting a slime on the tutorial did not require a skill. The purpose of defeating a slime that does not even release killing intent on the tutorial was to get the player used to the body and used to hunting monsters.
However, if the opponent was an orc, moreover, a level 5 orc, it was a completely different story. He could not even use a skill. There were his Unique Skills, but the disparity of power between a level 1 Unique Skill and an attack skill that could be learned at level 1 was too great.
In general, getting beaten to death would be the normal.
Only if it was a normal case.
‘It is fast.’
He did not play virtual reality games for 5 years. But it did not mean that his talent from when he was called King of the Arena had disappeared. He only felt some discomfort at the beginning. Soon, his body got used to the fight.
‘No. No matter how you see it, it isn’t a monster of a tutorial level.’
He suppressed the increasing dissatisfaction. It was more important to concentrate on the battle for now. The bat grazed nearly hitting Laden’s body. He visualized a dodge movement much before, but the body was a little slower.
‘The avatar can’t follow.’
The avatar which was twice faster than the real body could not follow Laden’s mind. Besides, there were many basic problems. After the battle he had to adjust the settings from scratch.
‘It has quite a lot of HP.’
No. It was not the orc’s HP, it was Laden’s weak attacks. One of Laden’s Unique Skills, Heo-heo-sil-sil activated. Laden’s HP decreased little by little, and his attack power increased.
The weight of each blow changed. Laden was certain of it by feeling the impact on his fists.
‘If a normal punch is around 10… When I’m using Heo-heo-sil-sil, it is 13… No, it’s around 14.’
However, that was the number of a punch. Moreover, the opponent was an orc, a monster with two arms and two legs. Its vital spots were the same as a human. Laden’s lips curled up.
The hook landed precisely on the orc’s jaw. It halted its movements briefly and its eyes trembled. Either it is a monster or an avatar, its vital spot was the same. If one gets a blow on their jaw, they will be unable to move and lose their balance.
Then once again. Laden’s waist turned and his leg soared like a whip on the orc’s thigh. Laden was grateful that the orc was not wearing a leather clothes. Its skin was already very thick.
It received full damage. And he did that a few more times. He maintained his form, turning only the waist. So much that his tibia tingled. The orc finally lost its balance and fell on the ground.
Laden dashed and, with the speed, he launched a kick on the orc’s head. It was the so-called sicker kick. An orc does not possess the ability of self-recovering. A monster without self-recovering, and, like a human, its head was a really easy vital spot to hit. Specially, if it was fallen on the floor like this, it was like a soccer ball, free to kick.
‘It’s a monster though.’
In a virtual reality game, there is the HP number. Even if one stab the other with a knife, twist it and pull it out; even if one cut an arm or a leg out. These kinds of wounds, that could lead a living being to death in the real world, could not kill an avatar or a monster easily in a virtual reality game. Death in games arrived when the HP bar reached 0.
Nevertheless, a hit on a vital spot still caused more damage than other places. Even more if it was continuous hits. The orc’s cry changed. Before, it was filled with anger and killing intent, then it was a painful howl, and finally one could hear the fear within.
‘It seems that Heo-heo-sil-sil can be applied to all damage causing attack.’
Laden checked the HP bar. The HP decreases when Heo-heo-sil-sil is active and it increases when Bloodshed is active. It was because the orc was bleeding and received damage.
‘The HP loss due Heo-heo-sil-sil and the gain from Bloodshed is similar. It’s a 1:1 rate, so it can be considered usable.’
Moreover, if it was a battle where a lot of players participated, Bloodshed would shine more than ever. It would increase the recovery of HP according to the amount of damage and blood on his surrounding, even if it was from another player.
“Ah.”
Laden’s leg stopped moving.
The orc did not move anymore.
“Hm?”
Laden’s feet stopped. As he played the tutorial, he already defeated three slimes, so he had to kill seven more to finish it. However, suddenly, the pouncing slimes ceased its movements.
‘What?’
He moved backwards feeling some danger. Right in front of Laden, the slimes melted to a puddle of sticky liquid. His eyelids flicked.
A green liquid soared up. Then, a completely different monster appeared in front of Laden.
“Oh, shit.”
Laden didn’t even notice he let out a swear.
The orc, wearing only a piece of cloth just covering its crotch, observed its surroundings.
It was not his first time seeing an orc. He came across so many orcs he was quite sick of it. Green orc, gray orc, red orc, sorcerer orc, Orc Lord and so on. The number of orc types Laden knew easily surpassed ten. The orcs in virtual reality games were not so different than those of PC online games from dozens of years ago, as the base were the same.
‘This is indeed more realistic.’
It seems that technology did progress. These were his thoughts while seeing the orc. It may be the same Orc, but Valhalla orcs seemed more stupid than Fantasia orcs.
‘No, putting that aside. Why is there an orc here?’
The tutorial was the same for every player. It was to kill ten slimes. It has been 1 year since Valhalla was released, but there was not a single reported case of a monster besides slimes appearing during the tutorial.
So, why did an orc appear now? Laden’s eyes met the orc’s eyes. For a brief moment they froze.
“Grwah!”
The orc let out a loud growl. The look in its eyes changed, it showed pure enmity. Laden backstepped. It was clearly different from a slime, slimes do not release killing intent. That was to prevent from scaring a beginner.
But an orc did. Laden felt a tinkling feeling on his skin and frowned.
[You are being exposed to an orc’s killing intent.]
A warning voice sounded on his head. Oh, so it was like that. Laden realized it late. It was Laden’s Unique Skill, Predation Detection, what sensed its killing intent.
“…Is it a bug?”
The orc approached slowly. Laden grumbled in a low voice observing it. Don’t I have to report it? He opened the system window and searched for a bug report button.
However, before he could find it, he closed it and sneered.
‘Rather, it is a good opportunity.’
This was his thoughts. Just punching a slime wasn’t enough. Laden narrowed his eyes watching the orc getting closer to him. It (orc) did not rush right away and continued to observe his movement, it was quite weary of him.
‘I have to adjust my sensation settings anyway. Also, I still didn’t get a grasp on my Unique Skills…’
He could report this error later. First, he would try to fight this orc. Laden clenched his hands to a fist. The backed foot advanced again.
And he kicked the ground.
Level 1 avatar. 10 as the fixed basic stat. There had been many researches that compares a virtual reality avatar’s body and a normal real body, and it was still a very active area.
Based on these researches, a normal male adult who did not go through a special training program would be: strength 10, agility 5 and HP 8.
In other words, a basic avatar at level 1 was still superior than a normal body.
‘It is fast.’
He was not used to it yet. There was a difference between running in an avatar’s body and in a real body. The agility stat was what influenced the acceleration capacity in Valhalla. So, now Laden was moving in twice the speed of his real body.
Nevertheless, he got used to it in the next moment. Kwajik! After kicking the ground, the soaring body thrusted a knee right on the orc’s face. It swayed a little and tilted to the back.
Yet it did not fall down. The attack was clean and direct, but it did not cause enough damage. The orc recovered soon and Laden regained his balance after landing on the ground.
‘Kaargh!’
The orc shouted angrily. The nose that was hit was bleeding, bright red blood leaking. It threw the bat it was holding on Laden’s head.
Laden did not know, but the monster he was facing was a level 5 orc. In normal cases, he would have to finish the tutorial and go to the hunting field outside the first city to encounter it.
It was a huge difference. In Valhalla, after entering the first city, the player could choose a basic class and learn a new skill. Which meant that when a player encountered an orc at the hunting zone, they would already possess an attack skill.
Fighting a slime on the tutorial did not require a skill. The purpose of defeating a slime that does not even release killing intent on the tutorial was to get the player used to the body and used to hunting monsters.
However, if the opponent was an orc, moreover, a level 5 orc, it was a completely different story. He could not even use a skill. There were his Unique Skills, but the disparity of power between a level 1 Unique Skill and an attack skill that could be learned at level 1 was too great.
In general, getting beaten to death would be the normal.
Only if it was a normal case.
‘It is fast.’
He did not play virtual reality games for 5 years. But it did not mean that his talent from when he was called King of the Arena had disappeared. He only felt some discomfort at the beginning. Soon, his body got used to the fight.
‘No. No matter how you see it, it isn’t a monster of a tutorial level.’
He suppressed the increasing dissatisfaction. It was more important to concentrate on the battle for now. The bat grazed nearly hitting Laden’s body. He visualized a dodge movement much before, but the body was a little slower.
‘The avatar can’t follow.’
The avatar which was twice faster than the real body could not follow Laden’s mind. Besides, there were many basic problems. After the battle he had to adjust the settings from scratch.
‘It has quite a lot of HP.’
No. It was not the orc’s HP, it was Laden’s weak attacks. One of Laden’s Unique Skills, Heo-heo-sil-sil activated. Laden’s HP decreased little by little, and his attack power increased.
The weight of each blow changed. Laden was certain of it by feeling the impact on his fists.
‘If a normal punch is around 10… When I’m using Heo-heo-sil-sil, it is 13… No, it’s around 14.’
However, that was the number of a punch. Moreover, the opponent was an orc, a monster with two arms and two legs. Its vital spots were the same as a human. Laden’s lips curled up.
The hook landed precisely on the orc’s jaw. It halted its movements briefly and its eyes trembled. Either it is a monster or an avatar, its vital spot was the same. If one gets a blow on their jaw, they will be unable to move and lose their balance.
Then once again. Laden’s waist turned and his leg soared like a whip on the orc’s thigh. Laden was grateful that the orc was not wearing a leather clothes. Its skin was already very thick.
It received full damage. And he did that a few more times. He maintained his form, turning only the waist. So much that his tibia tingled. The orc finally lost its balance and fell on the ground.
Laden dashed and, with the speed, he launched a kick on the orc’s head. It was the so-called sicker kick. An orc does not possess the ability of self-recovering. A monster without self-recovering, and, like a human, its head was a really easy vital spot to hit. Specially, if it was fallen on the floor like this, it was like a soccer ball, free to kick.
‘It’s a monster though.’
In a virtual reality game, there is the HP number. Even if one stab the other with a knife, twist it and pull it out; even if one cut an arm or a leg out. These kinds of wounds, that could lead a living being to death in the real world, could not kill an avatar or a monster easily in a virtual reality game. Death in games arrived when the HP bar reached 0.
Nevertheless, a hit on a vital spot still caused more damage than other places. Even more if it was continuous hits. The orc’s cry changed. Before, it was filled with anger and killing intent, then it was a painful howl, and finally one could hear the fear within.
‘It seems that Heo-heo-sil-sil can be applied to all damage causing attack.’
Laden checked the HP bar. The HP decreases when Heo-heo-sil-sil is active and it increases when Bloodshed is active. It was because the orc was bleeding and received damage.
‘The HP loss due Heo-heo-sil-sil and the gain from Bloodshed is similar. It’s a 1:1 rate, so it can be considered usable.’
Moreover, if it was a battle where a lot of players participated, Bloodshed would shine more than ever. It would increase the recovery of HP according to the amount of damage and blood on his surrounding, even if it was from another player.
“Ah.”
Laden’s leg stopped moving.
The orc did not move anymore.
