“Do you also play Martial Online?” Alice asked with a curious smile.
“Ah.” Jesse turned to his bedside table and sheepishly scratched his head. “Yeah, I do. The doctor recommended it because of my illness.”
“Has it helped?” She asked. “Unfortunately, it isn’t helpful for deaf and blind people, but for you, it should help.”
“Ah, yes. It is working perfectly.” Jesse smiled fondly while remembering the game. “It is the first place where I can feel normal.”
“That is excellent.” Alice smiled and clapped her hands. “Have you tried the exercises I gave you during my last visit? You should still take good care of your real body.”
“I tried, but…” Jesse shook his head. “I received the fracture because I tried doing the push-ups.”
“Oh.” Alice’s lips curled downward, and she looked sorry. “I am sorry; I thought your body could handle that much. In that case, what about the food diet I suggested?”
“Yes, I have done that…” Jesse forced a smile, but he was lying, as he didn’t dare ask his parents to spend more money on him. The physical therapist was the last thing they were willing to pay for.
“Good.” Alice smiled and took out a notepad from her handbag. “How are your legs? How long can you stand per day before it becomes unbearable?”
“Thirty minutes or so.” Jesse said while touching the side of his leg. He was actually already feeling pain but didn’t want to show it in his face.
‘The pain isn’t that bad anymore; it is actually bearable. Strange.’ He thought while frowning.
“Mm.” Alice nodded while writing down notes. “Could you spend those thirty minutes walking around the street?” 𝑜𝓋𝒩xt.𝒞𝑂𝗆
“Hmm?” Jesse looked surprised, as such a thought never came to his mind. He couldn’t remember when he last walked outside without a wheelchair.
“I could walk with you till you have grown used to it.” Alice said with a smile. “I often run past your house early in the morning during my morning jog. You could join me for a walk.”
“Uh, sure then.” Jesse nodded and accepted the proposal, even though he felt slightly reluctant. He wasn’t sure how long it would take before his legs couldn’t last anymore.
“Nice.” Alice smiled and put the notepad inside the handbag. “That is pretty much all I wanted to check out for today. If pain returns on the right wrist, visit the doctor as soon as possible.
“I will, thank you.” Jesse walked to the door and opened it for her. Alice walked out of the door, but then turned around and looked into his dull eyes.
“Which city are you in?” Alice asked.
“Excuse me?”
“In Martial Online.”
“Ah, Amaterasu,” Jesse said.
Alice’s face immediately beamed into a sweet smile. “Me too. Perhaps we will see each other there. See you tomorrow.”
“Goodbye.” Jesse watched as Alice walked down the stairs and saw her discussing something with Maria at the doorway. Once she left, Maria closed the door and looked upstairs at him.
Jesse sighed and closed the door. He immediately sat back down and groaned in pain.
“These fucking legs.” He grabbed his pants tightly and wanted to claw his legs with his nails, but knew it would be a terrible idea.
He covered his eyes with his hand and remembered the time when he ruined his legs. It happened in middle school, when he accidentally slipped on the stairs and fell to the bottom of the stairs, legs first.
His legs were shattered by impact, but it was also lucky because if he had landed head-first, he would have died.
That was also his last day at any school and the downfall of his life.
Jesse laid back on the bed and exhaled loudly. He then turned to the side and looked at the chair where Alice had sat just moments ago. She and a few doctors had treated him nicely, which made him grateful towards them. But he could see pity behind their gazes.
“I wish I could just move my consciousness to my Martial Online avatar and abandon this body, hah.” Jesse laughed at the strange thought. However, he thought it didn’t sound too bad, as this world seemed very gray in his vision.
He then pulled out his phone and checked for any information on forums. As soon as he entered the forums, he saw that there was a post made by Martial Online staff!
[Ranks of the Techniques]
[After more than a hundred people had successfully created their skills, we decided to reveal the ranks of the techniques. The NPC styles with “Basic” in the name are part of the lowest rank, and each NPC technique will have the rank of the technique in the name.
[However, player techniques don’t have to be like that. You are free to choose your skill’s own name or let the system decide it for you. After creating the skill and reaching a 100% completion rate, your skill rank will be determined.
[The ranks are following…
[1st. Basic.
[2. Skilled.
[3. Talented.
[4. Rare.
[5. Beyond Rare.
[6. Epic.
[7. Purple Epic.
[8. Legendary.
[9. Golden Legendary.
[10. Mythical.]
“There are so many ranks.” Jesse thought and saw the fourth rank. “Rare is fourth. That is not bad. I didn’t expect it to be so much higher than any other skill of mine, but it makes sense.”
Jesse then checked the comment section, and most asked how to make their own skills as there was no information about it, but Martial Online staff didn’t reply to them. Some even offered to purchase that information.
Jesse felt tempted, but after remembering the Crow Cave mess, he decided to reign in his greed now and close the phone.
“The time is moving so slowly…” He moaned in annoyance while checking the clock every five minutes. He knew it was around 7 p.m. when he died, and it was around that time when his avatar would get purified from the Black Smoke of Verhan.
Jesse was tired of just lying down, so he set his alarm clock to wake him up at 7 p.m. and then closed his eyes to catch some sleep.
He didn’t know when he fell asleep, but it took him at least an hour to force himself to sleep.
The next thing he remembered was a loud noise in his ears. He woke up with a loud groan and closed the alarm clock in annoyance. He opened his phone with half-open eyes and saw the clock had reached 7 p.m.
“Finally…” Jesse tossed the phone to the side, took his VR headset, and put it around his head. He then pressed the button and saw his vision go from his house to the empty white space.
He immediately pressed on Martial Online and reappeared in the middle of the street. The streets were bustling with NPCs and players. There were still signs of the fight that had happened yesterday, but there were celebrations happening.
Many still had lost their loved ones, and some NPCs looked extremely sad, as if their whole lives had crashed down in the span of a few hours. The players felt pity for them even though they weren’t actually real but were creatures of internet code.
‘If I remember correctly, I never assigned my stats after reaching level 5.’ Ambrose thought and opened his interface.
However, what he saw made him very confused.
“It is still the same? What are those question marks?”
At that moment, a loud bell rang across the city.
An enormous message appeared in the darkening skies of Amaterasu.
[REWARDS OF THE WORLD QUEST WILL BE GIVEN NOW]
[RANKINGS OF THE EVENT]
[1…]