Chapter 5 – Success

It seemed like the fighting tutorial had started.

Max immediately focused and told himself that he was still streaming. His goal was to impress his few viewers who came to mock a noob to promote him in Knight Journey's community forum.

Raising his axe, he began to run to Knight Captain Hutch in the distance. A person was able to block 6 barbarians by himself.

"Help me, soldier! I won't be able to hold them any longer! We can't let them invade the village!"

"Leave it to me!"

Infected by the Knight Captain's vigor, Max unconsciously answered him with a loud shout. His hand gripped the axe tightly.

Due to the heavy weight of his weapon, his movement was slightly restricted. But he moved skillfully through the muddy red ground from blood.

— He's fast!

— Is that possible for someone who uses an axe?

— Damn! He's good!

The chat went wild after watching Max's movement. The years of training in parkour paid off.

Although he couldn't move for 3 years due to his injury, he still had the basics and knew how to move with a little effort, even while holding something heavy.

Jumping high in full armor, Max surprised all the barbarians and even the Knight Captain. He landed in front of two guardians and swung the axe horizontally.

Swoosh!

The axe mowed down the unarmored barbarians, slicing their bodies in half.

— Holy shit! The newbie is merciless!

— Damn! Their guts are spilling. Did he not turn off the gore content?

— Blood! Give us blood! Moooreeee!!!

The viewers were excited. They had never thought that a newbie who had just made his streaming account the same day would be able to play this well.

'Woah.'

Max was also surprised. He planned to scare the barbarian, but he was actually able to jump higher than ever and even swung the heavy axe easily.

'My body is so light. I can move however I please!'

A grin crept into his face.

— The newbie is excited.

— Lolol! Look at his grin!

"Don't lower your guard, soldier!"

Knight Captain Hutch warned Max as he killed a barbarian by piercing his heart. Only three were left.

One of them was running toward Max while brandishing a similar axe. He didn't panic.

This was a game. And a game was supposed to be fun and not scary.

"Come on!" He roared in excitement as he moved.

Two axes met each other, creating a spark in the air. A loud clash rang from the collision, and they were both locked in a settlement. However… This was a virtual reality game.

Thud!

Max kicked the barbarian in the groin, and his enemy slumped in pain. Using this chance, he brought the axe down and killed his enemy in one hit.

"Next!"

With a bloody axe in his hand, he raised his head to lock at his next target.

"Soldier… Calm yourself a little. Leave the rest to me."

The Knight Captain moved forward with his horse and began to combat the remaining two barbarians alone.

— I wonder who is the barbarian among them…

— A knight with an axe is a barbarian!

— ^^ I am disappointed. I wanted to hear Hutch curse at him, but he actually asked him to stay calm!

— Who is that guy? I don't know that Hutch!

— What the… Can a newbie move like that? I thought this was a noob stream? How can he not die at all in the tutorial?

"Huh? Isn't a tutorial supposed to be easy?"

Max asked the chat as he watched Knight Captain Hutch mow down the enemy.

Even if he had heard about the game and its difficulty, he thought that the tutorial was supposed to be easy, so he didn't think much about it and charged at his enemy.

— This is a realistic game. So even the tutorial feels like a real war!

— You can die in a tutorial. Didn't you see the arrow that killed the tutorial knight? Many newbies from that arrow!

— He didn't die, though… Disappointing.

As Max read the chat and chuckled lightly, proud of his skill, Knight Captain Hutch had killed one of the barbarians while still horse riding.

"Thank you for the information, RabbitCat."

He appreciated the viewers for giving him such useful information. But it was too late. If he had known about that earlier, he would've died and made a funny moment.

'What a shame, but I was able to show my skill off thanks to that.'

Thud!

The last barbarian panicked as he saw his comrade fall. With a last shout, he ignored Hutch and chose an enemy that stood behind and absentminded, Max.

"Dieee!!"

It was a last-resort attack. Nothing was coordinated, and it took Hutch off guard. When he was about to turn around and chase after the barbarian, the horse refused to cooperate and neighed loudly.

"Wha?! Be careful, soldier!"

"Hmm?"

Max raised his head from the chat and saw a barbarian approaching him while wielding two swords.

Caught off guard, he just raised his axe to defend against the attack.

— Finally! First death? He surely won't be able to block those two death swords!

One of the viewers exclaimed, expecting the newbie streamer to finally die. They got excited seeing the last barbarian, often called two death swords, coming for him.

Clang!

A sound louder than any ever rang when the first sword struck Max's axe.

"At least I will bring you to the grave!" The barbarian shouted and raised his left hand, sending another attack with his second sword. "Die!"

— Die!

— Dieee!!!

The chat exploded, imitating the barbarian's howl. A total of 10 viewers immediately sent the same message.

However…

"Not today!"

Max suddenly jumped, front flipping. He pulled back his axe and used the spinning momentum to deliver an attack to the back of the barbarian's head.

It split nicely, lodging on the bald head as he landed on the bloody ground.

— WTF?!

— Hey, is that possible?! He wears full plate armor!

— Looking that VR uses a brainwave to move, and some gymnastics athletes can indeed do such a thing in virtual reality… So I believe that's possible. But still, that's amazing! The flexibility!

— POG!

Max froze in place. He read the chat with a surprised expression.

First of all, he only planned to jump high enough to dodge the incoming axe. And it was a desperate situation, so he didn't think much about it and just moved.

To think he would be jumping higher than a person's height was surprising for him. Thankfully, he responded quickly and front-flipped while attacking his enemy. It worked, and Max was happy about it.

"Woah…" He muttered in amazement. "I front flipped over his head!" He exclaimed.

— … Damn… Just damn…

— It seems like he didn't know he could do that either.

— o7 Good job, soldier. It seems like you will be knighted soon.

— Oh, right! He will be knighted soon! Kekeke, this will be a fun sight.

"Knighted?"

Max muttered as he didn't understand what the viewer meant.

From a distance, Knight Captain Hutch approached him with his horse. The white fur and the rider's armor were covered in red. There was a little dent here and there, a sign of a battle.

"Soldier." He called out to Max in a cold voice as he jumped from his horse and walked toward him.

— It's here!

— Knighted scene!

— Kyaa! I am so excited!

The Knight's Journey seemed like a peaceful game, but it was actually filled with fights until retirement. And the job of making a player realize that fell to the knight captain.

Many players who had played this game called this Knighted.

And usually, it involved crushing a player's spirit by cursing at them. But…

"Well done. That was a good fight, soldier. No, can you tell me what your name is? I think you're worthy to be called a Sir."

Hutch actually praised Max and asked his name.

[Insert your game nickname.]

At that moment, Max was a bit confused as he was prepared for the worst and stared at the new notification while the chat exploded.

— What the…!

— ???

— This bastard…

— He wasn't as nice to me for the first time!

— I got slapped twice!

— Good for you. I got punched three times!

Looking at the viewers' reaction, Max knew this was the best time to announce his name.

"Breeze."

[Breeze has been chosen as the player's name!]

"Sir Breeze." Hutch nodded in approval, "Let's return together."

The game froze once again, and Max's character moved by itself. It was a cutscene that signified the end of the tutorial.

Almost an hour had passed since the stream started. The previous 4 viewers grew to 10, then to 17 as more and more people got curious before Max decided to end his first stream early.

Those people began to remember this newbie's name. A certain viewer decided to post a clip in the community forum because it was a strange event that had never happened in Knight's Journey before.

The title in the community forum was eye-catching.

[Viral! The demon Knight Captain compliments a newbie!]