“Breakfast!” Leah called out from downstairs.
Ethan shook Angela awake. At first, Angela always woke up very early to take care of things, but when Ethan grew and they started sleeping together, she started relaxing a bit more.
Arriving downstairs, Ethan and Angela were greeted by a beautiful breakfast. “I thought both of you would be hungry after yesterday.”
Yesterday was Ethan’s birthday, so his mother celebrated it by proudly introducing him to her friends. Ethan wasn’t the most social person, but it kind of felt good to have a parent that was happy for him.
After breakfast, his mom and Angela went out to get her a job at a bakery since Angela mentioned that she always wanted to learn how to bake. That left Ethan alone in the house, but that didn’t mean he was going to be idle.
Now that he had some freedom, it was time for him to start acting out his plans. First was money. Building one character is expensive enough, building multiple characters would cost a fortune. Second was building up his first avatar. Since the skill was set up to act more like summoning, it made things easier for Ethan.
After leaving a note that he went out to the forest, Ethan left the house. During the 6-hour conversation during the carriage ride to this village, Ethan found out that there was a waypoint statue in the forest. But the villagers avoided it since monsters lurked around it, which was a valid concern for normal people. However, Ethan didn’t have the luxury to be normal.
After renting a sword from the blacksmith in the village, Ethan headed into the forest. He gave the sword to his avatar, Evan, since Ethan wanted him to get the swordsmanship skill and a swordsman class.
Since Golden heart academy was an open world game, locations were split into zones with some being a safe zone or a neutral. Obviously, the same rule no longer applied in this world, but Ethan still knew how to identify how dangerous a neutral zone is.
For example, Ethan searched around for any territory markings. If a powerful monster was present, it would leave clear signs that this was its territory. Next, he kept an eye out for any signs of conflict. In the game, even monsters would fight each other, opening more possibilities for players. But it could also mean there’s two large groups of monsters in the area.
Seeing no signs of any powerful monsters, Ethan proceeded deeper into the forest. He kept his eyes out for any monsters, and it paid off as he jumped out of the way of a goblin that leaped down from a tree.
The goblin crashed into the ground face first, disorienting it enough for Evan to stab its back without issue. A similar scenario kept repeating from there. A monster would try to attack him, and they would somehow find a way to kill it. Thankfully, the only monsters that showed were fodder level.
After about an hour of exploring, Ethan was covered in dirt and a few specks of monster blood. But his hard work had paid off as they finally found the statue. The statue was of a cloaked man holding up a torch with their left hand.
Placing a hand on the statue, golden letters began appearing once again. Ethan thought that it would be a while before he could check his profile again, but he was happy to be proven wrong.
Name: Ethan Raystrom
Race: Human
Class: None
Core: None
Passive skills: 3/5
- Young prodigy (0%) – Proficiency gains is increased by 100%
- Intermediate mana circulation (Max%) - Mana control is enhanced by 30%
- Physically fit (56%) - Physical abilities are enhanced by 10%
Active skills: 0/5
Divine skills: 1
- New Avatar (5%) – Create an avatar of yourself.
- Avatars: 1/1
Next was his avatar. Evan placed a hand on the statue and the golden letters took form.
Name: Evan Hunt
Race: Human
Class: None
Core: None
Passive skills: 2/5
- Quick learner (Max) – Proficiency gains is increased by 50%
- Beginner swordsmanship (14%) - Mastery of the sword is increased by 25%
Active skills: 0/5
Ethan was happy to see that Evan already got the swordsmanship skill. But that wasn’t what Ethan came here for. Placing both hands on the statue, Ethan began circulating the mana from the statue to him.
Evan guarded him as he emptied out the statue. Half an hour later, Ethan completely drained the statue, causing it to release a wave of mana as it came to life.
How would you like to be challenged child?
By your might?
By your wisdom?
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By your resolve?
The statue’s voice rang in his head. This time, Ethan chose a challenge by might. A flash of light erupted behind him, catching Ethan by surprise. Thankfully, nothing tried to attack him. When the light faded, an armored individual was revealed kneeling on the ground.
A glowing circle of light appeared in the clearing, and the knight was kneeling in the middle of it. Ethan made sure not to carelessly step into the circle as that would signal the start of the duel.
Once he enters the circle, a barrier would appear, making sure that he couldn’t escape.
“Evan,” Ethan gestured for the avatar to go in.
As he expected, the moment Evan stepped into the circle, the barrier manifested, preventing Ethan from going in himself. Once they were inside the barrier, it was an entirely separate world, so even if Ethan had any buffing skills, he wouldn’t be able to use it from the other side of the barrier.
Evan was alone to face the armored knight.
The armored knight stood still, a looming figure of polished iron and scarred plate. His helmet, featureless save for two thin slits, reflected the glow of the barrier.
Across from him, Evan shifted nervously, a simple steel blade clutched tightly in both hands. His clothes were light, his stance unsteady — more fear than technique.
The duel began without sound or signal.
Evan charged, raising his weapon overhead. The knight barely moved. He sidestepped — a lazy, almost dismissive pivot — letting the beginner stumble past him.
A metallic glint: the knight’s longsword slipped free from its scabbard in a single smooth motion. He swung, not to kill, but to teach. The flat of his blade struck the back of the swordsman's knee with a heavy thwack, dropping the youth onto the dirt.
The swordsman gritted his teeth and rolled away, springing to his feet. He rushed again, this time lower, blade thrust forward.
The knight caught the attack on his gauntleted hand — not even bothering to use his sword — and twisted. The beginner's weapon spun out of his grip, clattering uselessly to the ground.
Before the youth could react, the knight stepped forward. One heavy boot pressed against the swordsman’s chest, forcing him down onto his back. The knight’s sword hovered inches above his throat, gleaming.
Without missing a beat, Evan lost his head.
The barrier vanished soon after and the knight stood in the middle of the circle once again. Evan’s body turned into fragments of light as he got unsummoned.
Your avatar has perished
Avatar recovery: 167:59
The voice rang in his head. As he expected the countdown was a week, which was the same for the game. If your player died, you actually needed to wait a week in real world time before you can play again.
A lot of people were outraged, but they couldn’t do a thing about it since the game was free, and the creator was never known.
But thankfully, Evan died from the challenge of a waypoint.
Your avatar has recovered
Ethan smiled as the voice spoke in his head once again. Waypoint challenges were considered outside the realm of the game, or in this case, the world. Anything that happened during the challenge, didn’t apply outside of it. Even death wasn’t a true occurrence within the challenge. Though Ethan wasn’t certain if that was still the case here.
“Evan.”
Evan was summoned once again. Ethan gestured for the avatar to place a hand on the glowing statue.
Passive skills: 2/5
- Quick learner (Max) – Proficiency gains is increased by 50%
- Beginner swordsmanship (32%) - Mastery of the sword is increased by 25%
Ethan smirked as he saw that his plan had worked. “Go in again.”
Evan stepped into the circle.
While Evan was farming experience from the statue’s challenge, Ethan began mapping out the forest, looking for anything that he could use to earn money. Normally, waypoint statues had a special landmark near them.
For example, the statue that was located near his old home was a waypoint designated as the Raystrom estate. There was also one inside every church and beside every landmark in this world.
After about five hours of searching and having a hard time dealing with monsters, Ethan found nothing of interest. Ethan was just about to give up when an explosion erupted in the direction where the statue’s challenge was happening.
Running back to the scene, saw the results of Evan’s 23rd attempt. The area within the circle was practically destroyed. Craters and slashes marked the field, while Evan was on the ground, leaning against the barrier and coughing up blood. It was clear the armored knight was still the winner with its armor still pristine condition.
As Evan’s body turned to fragments of light, the barrier vanished. Ethan waited for the circle to revert all the damage inside of it, and it did. But to Ethan’s surprise, the area outside of the circle collapsed, revealing a tunnel heading underground.
Before Ethan could make any stupid decisions, he summoned Evan once again and had him touch the statue so he could check the avatar’s progress.
Name: Evan Hunt
Race: Human
Class: Swordsman
Core: None
Passive skills: 2/5
- Quick learner (Max) – Proficiency gains is increased by 50%
- Intermediate swordsmanship (77%) - Mastery of the sword is increased by 50%
Active skills: 1/5
- Enhanced slash (32%) - Infuse mana into a slashing attack to enhance its power.
Seeing his avatar already obtained a class, Ethan couldn’t help but smile. In order to obtain the swordsman class, a person needed to wield a sword through a life and death battle and survive. But since Evan literally fought to the death multiple times, so he quickly obtained the class.
But he won’t have that class for long though as Ethan pulled out a scroll from his pocket. The knight’s out, an item that when used by someone with a tier 1 combat class, allows them to swear loyalty to a master and obtain the knight class.
Ethan handed Evan the scroll. The avatar nodded and opened the scroll. Evan kneeled in front of Ethan, making him raise an eyebrow at the avatar.
"Before the eyes of heaven and the halls of men, I pledge my heart, my strength, and my life. To my lord, I swear unwavering loyalty; to my land, undying devotion; to my people, steadfast protection. I shall stand when others fall, speak truth when others lie, and hold faith when others break. No fear shall turn me, no bribe shall sway me, no betrayal shall stain me. My sword is theirs to wield, my shield theirs to trust, my honor theirs to uphold. Until my final breath fades into the wind, I remain — loyal, unbroken, and true."
Ethan was surprised by the sudden pledge since this was never shown in the game. Back then, he would just click the item, and the character would get the class.
“Anyways... here,” Ethan gave Ethan another reward he got from the first angel statue.
A skill stone.
Name: Evan Hunt
Race: Human
Class: Knight
Core: None
Passive skills: 3/5
- Quick learner (Max) – Proficiency gains is increased by 50%
- Intermediate swordsmanship (77%) - Mastery of the sword is increased by 50%
- Loyalty to the lord (0%) - All stats are increased by 200% when taking action for your lord.
Active skills: 2/5
- Enhanced slash (32%) - Infuse mana into a slashing attack to enhance its power.
- Knight’s vow (0%) - Enhance all stats by 100% for five minutes.
Ethan smiled as he read the golden letters.
“Jackpot.”