World Online

"Three thousand and thirty five." Jake panted as he counted one more strike that went towards his mission.

While he was overjoyed when he first got the mission, the rush of getting this special mission quickly wore off.

He was beginning to understand why someone else got this special mission but still gave up on it. It was just too hard!

One thing that World Online did so well much to the dismay of the players, was the addition of stamina. It was a hidden stat that no one knew about for the first few years, but eventually, people understood its existence.

Anyone who would do something for so long would get exhausted. And that exhaustion carried on in the virtual world.

After hammering the sword down three thousand times, Jake's arms felt like they were going to come off.

He was sweating and was ready to just collapse. But he knew that he couldn't give up. The reward of this mission was well worth doing all of this.

Around him, many others who were coming into Tutorial village looked at him with interest. Many others sneered at him.

"This guy is so stupid. Did he not read the post that the previous mission holder wrote? Ten thousand strikes to become a sword master of the tutorial village? It is just a waste of time. There will be so many NPCs that are stronger in the later cities." one person laughed at Jake.

But Jake couldn't be bothered with the words of a noob that knew nothing of this world.

Jake just clenched his sword and struck it down once more.

[Str +1]

A pop up came in front of him.

These were in abundance over the last few hours. He was upgrading his strength stat along with this mission. Continuously striking the sword had its own advantages.

But now, his hands were too sore. Jake let go of the sword and fell to the ground.

Tip, tap, tip tap.

Jake heard footsteps approaching him. Looking up, he saw that the sword master was right behind him.

Quickly rising up, he bowed his head.

"Sword master! Is there something else that you want?" he asked.

"You are very exhausted. Surprisingly, you went much further than the other boy, but you still have two thirds more to go. It is too much for you to handle. You should stop." the sword master said.

Jake was confused. He thought that the NPC would want him to continue the mission, not discard it.

"How about this. You are not strong enough to go on, I will give you a better starting mission than these other people. Why don't you take that?" the sword master said.

"I think that I can complete this mission. It is not hard. I am just taking a small rest. I will finish this mission, and learn under you." Jake said.

He understood what was happening. This was another trial. He knew the story of the lucky boy who got a special mission in the tutorial village.

And in that story, he completed all of the ten thousand strikes. So Jake also had to complete them.

Taking the sword with renewed energy, he faced the dummy and struck it with all his might. The number on the counter rose to three thousand and thirty seven.

"You seem like the right person then. I will be waiting for you when you complete the ten thousand strikes. But if you give up on the way, then I will always give you the other mission." the sword master laughed as he walked away.

Jake disregarded those words.

He already spent a little over four hours just striking a dummy with a wooden sword. He might have gotten a few stats, but that was not worth the time spent. Jake could easily get those stats in a hunting ground that he knew all about.

With the knowledge of the future, he knew exactly where to grind experience easily, where to find the best items, and what to do.

But he was willing to sacrifice all that just for this opportunity. Once he missed it, he could never come back to the tutorial village, so this was his only opportunity.

Swing!

Once again, he swung the sword to inch towards his goal.

Seven Hours Later,

Jake was on the ground, looking at the sky. His hands were bright red from all of the swinging. And next to him lay his sword.

As a wooden sword, it was already past its durability.

With cracks all over its body, it was just another swing away from being destroyed.

Jake was also in the same situation. He had overdrafted himself like never before. But when he looked at the panel, his mouth could not help but twitch up.

And above him, with bold letters, were written the words: [Special Mission Completed]

"Finally, the mission is over. I can't believe that it took so long. What kind of sadist makes an Easter egg like this?" Jake cursed.

But he knew the answer. Most of the easter eggs in this game were made by none other than Maria, the AI that controlled the game.

"You have completed the mission. I am shocked. I did not expect someone to complete the mission anytime soon. It looks like I have to reevaluate you people." the sword master appeared next to Jake mysteriously.

"The reward. May I ask for it now?" Jake's face was haggard.

"The reward? What are you talking about? You wanted to be my pupil, didn't you? There is still a long time before I give anything to you. But you are in no state to do anything. Go back and rest." the sword master said.

[Force Log Out initiated. Logging Out] a prompt came in front of Jake.

"Force Log Out? What the hell? Only an administrator level NPC can do that!" Jake was shocked. But before he could do anything about it, everything turned black.

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