[Duel Mode activated!]
Noah sat down on one of the wooden benches located on the edge of the training ground and waited for suitable opponents. It was worth noting that Eternal Dreams had no restriction on duels.
The beginner villages located inside the two empires were the only places where players were not allowed to kill each other. It was a no-kill zone where players could engage in duels with each other using the duel mode feature.
Elsewhere, however, it was a free-for-all. Anyone could kill you as long as they had the capacity. They could even get a part of your EXP if they got lucky. Thus, Noah thought it was a good idea to duel while he had nothing to lose.
Soon, one of the players who finished fighting with the training dummies challenged him to a duel.
[BasementDweller has challenged you to a duel! Do you wish to accept?]
[Yes.]
[No.]
Noah accepted the challenge, and the two of them were teleported away to a circular arena. They faced each other on the stone platform surrounded by empty spectator seats. [BasementDweller] was a level 1 Assassin.
He was a rather chubby opponent, whose class didn't suit him. The Assassin class started with nothing more than a dagger and a similar, but slightly thinner leather armor. It was said to be the hardest class out of the four, as daggers had bad attack range, and their speed didn't help them out that much on lower levels.
[BasementDweller] walked up to Noah. He extended his hand in a friendly manner, and Noah was about to shake it, but [BasementDweller] attacked once he got close.
"Hahh, you fool [Miro]. Did you think I would let you have the first attack? I'm an Assassin."
"I did not."
Noah answered, his voice nonchalant as he stepped back in the last moment. [BasementDweller] tried to stab his eyes but failed. His first attack was perhaps the smartest thing he could do as a level 1 Assassin.
First, he successfully closed the distance, then he even managed to attack. Blinding Noah would have made him susceptible to more close-range attacks that would eventually kill him.
Unfortunately, Noah was a veteran with nigh unmatched amount of experience in MMORPG games. Such a basic tactic had no chance of working against him. Even if it was a little harder to dodge when it happened in virtual reality.
[-5]
[BasementDweller] received an upward slash from Noah as he drew the sword from its scabbard. The tip of his blade drew an arc of blood. Making the chubby Assassin stagger in shock.
Both of them looked at the bloodied sword with wide eyes. Noah, because his attack and the reaction of his opponent were unusually real. The blood, the shock, and the feeling. Noah wondered how they could allow such a real experience.
The truth was that Eternal Dreams grew fast, and RE:ALITY became the biggest corporation in the world in a matter of weeks. Their net worth eclipsed that of many countries once other corporations and brands joined the game.
Essentially making it impossible to sanction RE:ALITY. Eternal Dreams changed the world, and there was nothing they could do about it. This is why what [BasementDweller] experienced once the sword landed on him was not simply a mimicked pain, but a real feeling that made him shudder.
He didn't even notice that the actual pain he received from the attack was not as unbearable as it should have been. Noah took his chance when he noticed that [BasementDweller] got scared.
[-5]
[-4]
[-10 CRITICAL]
...
"You're crazy! Kheukk"
"It's the world, not me."
[Winner: Miro]
Noah was teleported back to the training ground along with his traumatized opponent. He wondered how realistic fights like these would influence reality in the future. Would kids attack each other with swords, thinking that their opponent just respawns?
The truth was that Eternal Dreams players became increasingly good at fighting in real life as they racked up experience inside the game. Noah suspected that there would be a little mayhem in the future as some naive players get emboldened to act.
Then the scales would slowly tip back, and balance would be regained once enough players learned how to fight.
Next, Noah tried to fight against all of the beginner classes as many times as he could. It took him a long time to find players from every class, but he had plenty. Fighting against a Mage was hard at first, but the outcome was decided once Noah managed to get close.
Mages used a weak magic spell called Mana Bullet. It did higher damage than Noah did with his default sword, but the magic spell had the drawback of a somewhat high mana cost.
Warriors, on the other hand, had no such weakness. It was a Renegade class on steroids and the most popular class for a good reason. Noah fought against one and lost miserably. The warrior class was not only stronger, but his opponent also simply knew how to use a sword.
The fight was so one-sided that Noah decided to fight against him again and again until his opponent got bored. As a result, Noah racked up 20 losses. However, by the end of his last fight, he had almost defeated the warrior.
His fight against the Renegade class was lackluster. His opponent was weak and couldn't fight at all, despite being confident in his abilities. The fight ended in seconds, and Noah was back to square one.
Noah continued to fight against other beginners for the rest of the day.
...
...
[Winner: Miro]
Several fights later, Noah was surrounded by challengers who wished to fight against him. Some strong, obviously trained fighters defeated Noah, but he was improving at an alarming pace.
He was in the middle of another fight when a notification popped up.
[Minimum threshold reached. Do you wish to log out?]
[Yes.]
[No.]
[Warning: You are not allowed to log out in the middle of combat.]
"Finally!"
Noah finished his fight and logged out of Eternal Dreams. He had two objectives in the real world. First, find a dojo where someone would teach him how to handle a sword. Second, find out how to break the current dummy quest record.