First encounter

In the forest, Ark had been running for about 5 minutes when he finally saw something.

[ - Goblin - lvl 0 -

HP: 150/150

MP: 20/20

STR: 3

VIT: 2

INT: 1

AGI: 2

SOU: 0

{skills}: slash ; parry]

"cool a goblin"

Ark unsheathed his sword as he prepared for his first combat in the game. He planned to ambush the goblin while it still hadn't noticed him. Ark crouched down and slowly moved towards the goblin. He would have to be careful because the goblin is stronger than him at the moment. Ark waited for the perfect moment, and when it came, he grasped the hilt of the sword and lunged towards the goblin.

Luckily, the goblin hadn't noticed him yet, but as soon as he was in 5 feet of the goblin, it noticed him. The goblin turned to face Ark so it could parry the blow, but unfortunately for the goblin it was too late. Ark's sword had already reached the goblin's neck and the blow connected successfully.

(critical hit) -20

In SRO, 1 strength point equals 10 attack power, and if you manage to attack a weak point of your opponent that triggers the critical hit effect.

"Wow how lucky. My first attack in this game was a critical hit. Come to think of it how did I know to hit that spot"

He couldn't dwell on it too long as he was still in the heat of battle.

As he was dodging attacks he managed to get hit with one.

-30

"OW!!"

"Why does it do so much! That was a third of my health and this one is just level 1!"

Another "cool" thing the devs added to the game is the pain factor. It only has 2 settings, 50% and 100%. The only reason they added the 50% setting is to keep the game from dissuading sensitive and fragile people towards playing the game. The devs wanted to make the game as realistic as possible so they opted for a normal pain scale you would have IRL.

Ark had the pain factor set to 100%, because he believes that if you don't feel the gravity of your actions, you won't learn from your mistakes or even realize you've made a mistake. Because of this, he feels the attacks as if they were not even in the game.

"Ha, I didn't think I would need a party to kill a goblin. No, I can do it by myself. If I can't even kill one goblin, how am I supposed to become the top player."

"HAAAAAAAAA"

Ark charged at the goblin with renewed vigor. After parrying a few strikes he finally managed to get a few hits in.

(critical hit) -20

(critical hit) -20

(critical hit) -20

"What in the-"

he was cut off by the goblin slashing at his stomach. He must stay focused and worry about the bizarre amount of damage he was dealing later.

[ - Goblin - lvl 0 -

HP: 70/150

…]

The goblin was at half health at this point, but Ark wasn't looking too good either. The goblin was bleeding heavily and Ark was starting to get tired. He realized he couldn't drag the battle on for too much longer, so he went all out.

(critical hit) -20

Ark didn't have time to worry about the fact that every attack so far was a critical hit. He just wanted the goblin dead.

(critical hit) -20

(critical hit) -20

Ding*[you have killed a goblin]

[+5 exp]

He was relieved to have finally killed it; he then went over to collect the loot.

[you have received 1x broken sword]

[you have received 2x wolf fangs]

After collecting his loot, he began to wonder about something.

'I don't think having all your attacks be critical is normal. There has to be some reason for this strange occurrence.'

Suddenly, Ark remembered something. He wasn't sure if that was the reason, but he couldn't think of another at the moment so he decided to check.

As soon as he clicked on the soul trait tab, he saw a notification that he received three minutes ago; he didn't notice while he was in the heat of battle.

[Due to certain conditions being met, your soul trait has been unlocked]

[Soul trait: (sealed)Gifted from the Start

description: Due to the combined significance of your family's martial arts legacy and your IQ of 210, you are deemed to have been naturally gifted since birth

type: Unknown

effects:

1 - {passive}[(Martial Sense): enables you to perceive the weak point of any opponent <6 levels above you.

???????????????????????]

The first thing Ark noticed about his unlocked soul trait was that it had a 'sealed' status right next to the name. That combined with the fact that it still had question marks on it, Ark deduced that his soul trait still had undiscovered abilities and he was eager to find out what they were; though that could wait for later.

As Ark read what the new effect did, he instantly understood why all his hits were critical. As he was battling the goblin, he noticed a red light being emitted from certain parts of its' body, that of which he was instinctually drawn to. That must have been the passive's affect.

"Damn! That's op!"

As he was enjoying the feeling of power, Ark noticed something.

"with all the cries that goblin was making shouldn't reinforcements be arriving by now. Also, I don't know how I didn't notice it before, but goblin's are usually never alone."

As soon as he said that, he heard a roar that could send shivers down a demon lord's spine.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRR"

Ding*[you are experiencing [fear] you are now frozen for 5 seconds]