The Online Warrior

Chapter 1: First Impressions

There were monsters of all types, and it was strange to see his weapon bar in front of him and the health bar of his opponents. He saw some tabs, but was impatient, and didn't take the time to learn what they did. He grabbed his wooden sword and charged at a level one wolf.

After he slayed the wolf, he realized he had leveled-up. One of the tabs was blinking, he made his way back to the safety of the village and opened up the blinking tab. It listed a bunch of skill icons and only three were blinking while the rest were shaded. He looked at the categories, and there was Constant Skills, Power Up Skills, and Offensive Skills.

He selected the available Offensive Skill and a bar above his weapons bar appeared, an icon with a swirling circle and a sword in the middle. He decided to try it, and he ran up to another wolf, and activated his skill. He grabbed his practice sword almost uncontrollably and swung around in a circle two times. The wolf dissolved into particles in an instant. "Whoa, that move was powerful," Kevin said, staring at his wooden sword.

He walked in town and realized that there were a lot of shops and such, so he decided to visit the blacksmith. The blacksmith evaluated the amount of gold he had gained from slaying those wolves, and put out the only items he could afford to buy. There was a bow and arrow, an iron sword, and a wooden shield.

He bought the shield and walked around to see if anyone had a job that might get help him raise his experience level.... and get him some coin. He found this computer generated person who had a quest. For a hundred gold, he would kill this bear in a cave. He wasn't exactly sure what level this bear was, but was fairly certain that he could handle it alone. When he got to the cave, he nearly jumped backwards. The bear was level ten and it was huge, with brown fur and large claws. Kevin wasn't as sure as he was when he first left the town, but he had to have faith in his self if he was to defeat this creature. He took some wild swings at it, and then used his ability: Sword Circle. He span around twice and the creature stumbled.

He hacked at it some more while it was off balance, and then it got back up on its hind legs and swung its claws. Kevin Murad used the shield to block, but he still took a lot of damage. Kevin thrust his sword at its arm, but the bear's other arm swatted him away like he was a mosquito.

He was leaning against the wall, his shield only bringing him down with its weight. I can't keep up, He thought as the bear walked forward on all fours. At this point, he had no energy left to even lift his shield to block. The bear tackled him and he flew to the entrance of the cave. When he hit the ground, he was sprawled across the floor.

His health was dangerously low, he realized. One more hit like that and this game would be an entire third harder. He'd lose his first life, and would have to go through it all again. As the beast was getting ready for the final blow, Kevin heard an arrow fly by his head and into the bear's arm. It let out a cry of pain and anger and turned to face its new challenger. Kevin craned his head to see who was helping him.

It was a stranger, and he held a bow and plentiful arrows. TWANG! TWANG! Arrow after arrow, shot after shot, the bear continued to try to move towards him. Then he used his ability and a storm of arrows started flying at the bear. There must've been at least a thousand of them, because by the time it stopped, the bear was on the floor dissolving, with a new coat made of arrows.

Kevin heard some strange chant, and a circle of light and weird signs appeared around the stranger. He saw words around him float spelling: Cast heal! Kevin suddenly felt a lot better, and his health bar was nearly full.

He got up and looked at the stranger, asking, "Thanks. But who are you?"

The stranger replied, "Yamito Masaki, the King of the Swords."