Meeting and Misunderstanding

Zero...

"GROAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

The shout was deafening, violently vibrating through the eardrums. The vigorous roar's reached the elongated ears of the goblin commander. Fear crept up to his underdeveloped brain.

On the other hand, Yuri felt the sudden surge of power coursing through his fatigued body. The adrenaline arrived inside his brain, enhancing his focused state.

The sword moved in a slow motion inside Yuri's vision. Neurons clashed and made explosions inside his brain, the worn-out flesh now moved, reacting to its master commands. The swords brushed his short black hair, just to miss while scraping bits of leather towards the ground.

BANG!

The earth surface cracked by the impact from the metal cleavers. Bits of dirt and gravels flew all over direction, while the grass wailed at its demise.

He barely danced with death. He fixed his stance. His breath was firm and steady, while drawing his right hands as if it was the string of a bow. His eyes showed the menace he holds inside. A beast, looking at his prey.

BOOM!

The punch split the air into halves, destroying anything on its path while traveling to the goblin commander stomach.

- Critical Hit -

"Bluergh."

The goblin commander received the full impact of the strike. He felt the water inside his stomach churned and traveled back to his mouth, while at the same time pushing him back in a wobbled state.

Yuri, on the other hand, already prepared his second move and didn't give the goblin commander any time to recover. He followed it up with an elbow strike towards its chest.

"URgh."

The goblin commander once again felt his innards bursting, the pain made him lost his balance and dropped onto his knees.

Didn't want to lose a single opportunity, He followed it up again with another punch towards the goblin commander face.

- Inflicted dazed status. -

The goblin commander was losing its consciousness, while Yuri saw that the health bar on the goblin commander was almost finished.

He ran a little trying to get the speed he needs by circling the goblin commander. The momentum arrived quickly, he jumped to throw a knee-kick into the goblin commanders head.

Ding

- Goblin Commanders Lv. 6 defeated. -

- Experience gained: 3000 exp (3000 exp more to level up.) -

- Goblin Commanders dropped [Silver Bangle] -

====

- You have leveled up! -

- Strength rises by 1 point. (STR+1) -

- Agility rises by 1 point. (AGI+1) -

- Vitality rises by 1 point. (VIT+1) -

- Stamina rises by 1 point. (STA+1) -

===

- You have unlocked Will of Steel [Lv.1]: STA+3% -

- Requirements : Moving the avatar when stamina is exhausted for 5 minutes. (Completed.) -

====

- Stop the goblins invasions towards the town of Stonehelm. (Completed) -

- To receive your rewards go to Viscount Coenred office at Stonehelm Castle. -

The sight was spectacular, brutal even, Yuri relentless attack made him like a beast instead of a man.

The players were shocked and even stunned looking at the outcome. They know they were low leveled but the enemies were also around their levels, some of them even had the same level as the goblin commanders. But, if they were the one facing the goblin commanders instead of Yuri, they would be decimated in a matter of seconds without a chance to fight back.

This was because the VRMMORPG game didn't only factor the status, but also the actual skills of the player itself, so if the players that in the real world were a boxer, MMA fighter, or martial artist in general, then they would have another advantage playing this type of game.

"So cool..."

"What class is he?"

"Martial Artist? Brawler?"

"No...He didn't even use any skills related to that class."

"But he used the [Lion's Roar] Isn't that supposed to be Warrior's skill..."

"WHO CARES!! WE WON!!!"

"HOORAY!!!"

"VICTORY!!!"

The players were drunk for their triumph against the goblin's horde, on the other hand, Yuri was just mentally exhausted. His breathing was ragged and blood covered all over his armor and clothing, especially his fists.

He looked at his hands that were covered in red. He was shaking. He never felt like this before. The sense of achievements. Even when he became a successful billionaire, the feelings were not like this. The excitements were burning in his heart, maybe this was the case when Lillie became obsessed with the game.

"You're great!! Want to party up after this?"

"Hey!! What's your class?? It's OP!!"

"That's [Lion's Roar] right?? How did you learn it??"

One player after another approached him, asking to be his friend, to ask him up for a party, or even invited him to a guild.

Yuri was just too tired and mentally exhausted to deal with them, and so, his real-world persona came out. The stern young man, that was cold and aloof, except for the people he knew.

"Move."

He took his loot and brushed one of the players to open up his path. The players were stunned by Yuri attitude and the arrogance that he exuded. But, they were not offended by the slightest, instead, they thought that his attitude was somewhat cool.

"Do you see that!! That's what a master attitude should look like!!"

"Kyaaa!! So cool!! From now on you're my idol!!"

Not only the male players, even the female players thought that his bearings are stylish, on top of his handsome face. On the other hand, Yuri ignored the ruckus the players made and just kept walking towards the town, but, his minds were puzzled by the player's reaction.

People's are weird, he thought.

----

The city once more filled with bustling activity. Yuri found himself sitting alone in the park, near the stone bridge. Intending to not bring himself some unnecessary attention.

This was because of his suddenly famous status, not only that, there is also a fan club, recently made just to admire him, created by some of the female players that had seen his handsome face and his aloof personality, that they found was rather cute.

And for this reason, he decided to wait until the commotion had died down, before receiving his rewards from the viscount office. Looking at his predicaments, he just sighed while sitting on one of the park benches with an item in his hand.

He just stared at the item and let his thought wanders. Do this game have voice commands? I'm sure they implemented it right...Well, I guess I'll have to try it myself.

Yuri gripped the item tight in his hand and muttered, "Item status..."

Tring

===

[Silver Bangle] A bangle that once used by a noble, but was slain by a goblin a long time ago. Accessories - DEX+1, Durability: 50/50, Uncommon. (Requirements: Level 1 and Above.)

===

His eyes gleamed. Great! This makes everything easier, I didn't have to do that weird motion again to open the menu, he said in his minds, and looked at the item description in front of his eyes.

"This item is...Not too bad...I can use this right away..."

Yuri equipped it almost instantly, the silver bangle automatically attached to his wrist, blending in with his bandage like weapons.

"Lillie, I'm sorry but your brother didn't have time to spend hours just staring at the mailbox...Maybe at later level..." Yuri muttered while at the same time remembered that he got four new skills in his avatar.

"Three passive, and one active...So this game didn't use the tradition skill trees I assume...*Sigh*...I need to check the manuals to confirm this..." He hated the idea already.

Emperor's Dynasty didn't use the traditional pick and choose skill trees like other MMORPG's, instead, it used a system that had the same principles as the learning AI. Thus it gave the players the abilities to learn new skills or spells based on their own understanding.

In Yuri case, however, the skills that he got was a skill that was locked by certain criteria or conditions. But, that doesn't mean that a classless player would have the abilities to learn any abilities and skills in the game, in fact, the skill that didn't have the class requirements were not that many.

The skills were divided into three categories, class-specific skills, locked skills, and unique skills. Class-specific skills just like its name were a class that only belong to that class. Locked skills, on the other hand, were skills that were locked by certain criteria or conditions, just like Yuri have experienced.

And the last was unique skills, this skill was a skill that was created by the player's understanding, items, or even quests, and also the skill would be the only one in the game with no duplicate whatsoever, hence the name unique.

----

Hours passed by quickly, the sun had set replaced by the glow of the moonlight. Yuri felt his stomach churning and his throat drying.

Emperor's Dynasty also used the satisfaction system typically used in the survival genre. This was intended to maximize the amount of immersion the players can get playing the game, and also placed as some sort of a challenge for the players. So, not only can the players die from a monsters attack, they also can die from hunger and thirst.

"I need to get the rewards now and buy some foods...Lillie why don't you just give your brother some money to use, why it had to be equipments..."

Of course, the gift Lillie sent can be sold to profit him some gold, but knowing his personality, he just can't bear to sell the item's that his dear sister gave to him.

Yuri lifted his body and decided to go the viscount office. He walked through the dimly lit streets of Stonehelm, the clamors and the bustling town were no more, replaced by the sounds of drunkards at the local taverns. This time is also the perfect time for thieves and bandits to show their brilliance for terrorizing the unlucky few.

"You want some of this punk!"

"Take this!!"

"Ptui!"

A fight broke out between drunkards. Yuri just shook his head and realized that this world isn't much different from the real worlds. He kept his pace to navigate the dark alleys and finally reached the vicinity of the castle.

Stonehelm castle, the main attraction for the town of Stonehelm. Massive towers, stone steps, and even giant gates decorated the stone behemoth. The viscount coat of arms waved around to assert its dominance, lit by the silver glow of moonlight.

Yuri arrived at its front gate and stopped by two guarding soldiers.

"State your reason for visiting the castle." One of the guards said.

"I'm here to collect my rewards."

The guards lifted their spears and said, "The Viscount office is on the second floor. Make it quick!"

They're really roleplaying their roles. Yuri was amazed by the AI capabilities while moving his feet towards the castle inside.

Just like the exterior, the interior of the castle was mesmerizing at most. He was greeted with a big hall filled with tapestry, suits of armors, crossing swords ornaments, chandeliers, and big paintings of the viscount wearing his royal suit.

Yuri took his time to admire the castle surroundings. This is a piece of art he said in his minds. His feet, however, moved at a slower pace than before, especially when he's walking on the big steps of stairs located in the middle of the hall.

Arrived at the second floor, Yuri stopped his steps and stood on the left wing of the second floor. He scanned his surrounding, that looked like a hallway filled with oak doors illuminated by oil lamps.

"Now, where is the viscount office at?"

He was puzzled at first, but knowing the fact that he will not make any progress just by standing there, he decided to check the room one by one.

"Nothing..."

"Not this one either..."

"This one is a storage..."

"...No comment."

After having a cold sweat from the last room, he finally arrived at the last two rooms on the left wing sections. I hope this one is the viscount office, he said in his minds.

His hand grabbed the handle of the oak door.

Creak

The hinges of the oak door made a squeaking sound as if fighting against its rusted body. The room was dark and the only source of lighting was the light that the moon emitted, piercing through the glass door that leads to the room balcony.

Yuri was speechless, not because of the room, but there was a woman there. She was standing on the balcony ledges. The moonlight shined towards her short fringed hair. Burnt sienna, the colors of her hair, accompanied her pale complexion that looked like it was glowing in the night, contrasted by the black armor that was attached to her body.

"....."

"....."

"You're a thief..."

The two stared at each other for a brief second until Yuri broke the silence. The woman just smiled at him and let her curved body fall from the balcony. The short encounter was like a dream, even her smile looked so beautiful in the moonlight glow, as she falls into the shade of the castle.

Yuri was startled and rushed himself towards the balcony. To his surprise the woman was nowhere to be found, even the sound of impact was nowhere to be found. Seconds after the castle alarms finally broke out, and the soldiers rushed to find the culprits.

"Surrender!! Or you will be killed on the spot!!"

The guards rushed towards the room where Yuri was. He was standing at the balcony and got a cold sweat on his back. This was his first time being confronted for misconducts, even though he's pretty much innocents in this case.

Yuri put his arms up, and slowly turned his body to face the guards.

"I-I'm not a thief! I'm here to collect my rewards from the viscount..."

"Shut up! We will know once we're done with the investigation!"

"For now you're going to the jail!"