"Replica is taking the world by storm", "Ordering sites crashing due to the mass demand for the new Replica headset", "Is this the start of a new virtual age?" these titles and many more could be seen all over the news and the internet, it was just a day before the official release of this world changing game and it seemed like there wasn't a singe soul unaware of this phenomenon.

Meanwhile, Kyle was undertaking his usual swordsmanship exercise, yes, swordsmanship. Although in this age swords were scarce and most people didn't see one in their life, Kyle was from a traditional Japanese family with deep roots when it came to sword arts.

The sword wasn't just a hobby for him, it was his life. He liked the feeling of constant improvement, the feeling of being better than yesterday, there was nothing he liked more than sword practice. It could calm his mind like nothing else could, and most importantly, help him forget about his worries.

He wasn't always so absorbed in the way of the sword, he used to be a normal child, until a major event that changed his life took place.

When he was 6 years old, during the summer break his parents took a flight to visit his relatives, but they never came back. During the flight back, the plane crashed in the middle of the sea and his parents were nowhere to be found.

After his grandfather found out, he took care of Kyle and taught him his family's traditions and past. His grandfather was the only traditional person in his family, everyone else gave in to this new age of technology, but Kyle knew better.

Sadly, today even training couldn't calm his mind, he couldn't keep hiding from his problems and push them to the back of his mind.

Last month, his grandfather was diagnosed with a rare illness. It wasn't incurable, but the price is too high. Kyle wanted to find a way to get enough money, but his grandfather told him not to worry. It wasn't that his grandfather was too old, in this age a normal person can to live up to 150 years, and his grandfather is only in his 80s. But nonetheless, his grandfather asked him not to worry about him, to enjoy his life and pass the family traditions, but Kyle was never one to give up.

His grandfather knew him well, he knew Kyle would worry for him, so he decided to distract Kyle with the new game 'Replica', his grandfather though that Kyle would love the game, after all he is a teenager, and teenagers love video games.

Yes, that's his grandfather's logic, he is a simple man after all. But even though Kyle never played any video games, he decided to try this one for his grandfather, he read about the game online and it's possible to earn money from it, although the game wasn't released yet, a trading site for items and ingame currency is already available, although it is empty.

Finally, he managed to connect that damned helmet, he almost punched it out of frustration at one point, but lets leave the past behind, now that he managed to successfully connect it.

He looked at his surrounding, and saw nothing but white light, it was almost blinding. Suddenly, a beautiful angel appeared in front of him.

"Welcome adventurer to the world of Replica, would you like to hear the background story?"

'Accept / Reject'

Kyle immediately pressed Reject, he was never one to sit around and listen to stories, he preferred to learn on the way.

"Would you like to listen to the tutorial?"

He rejected again

"Please choose your character name"

'Hmm, what should i use?' He never played a game before. 'Well i guess ill go with something simple'

'Confirm'

"Do you wish to alter your appearance? (Appearance can be altered to the maximum of 15%)"

'Accept / Reject'

Kyle was never one to to think about his looks, so he rejected the offer.

A light flashed in his eyes and he suddenly found himself in a small village. The spawning plaza was filled to the brim and constant lights were flashing, he hurried to get out of the spawning plaza before his vision will be fully blocked by players, he then decided to take a stroll around the village.

The village was relatively big, but still filled with players. The air was clean, and there was a lot of green everywhere, these things were scare in cities like the one he grew up in. Every once in a while he saw a building with a wooden emblem on it, there was one with a bow emblem, one with a shield emblem and even one with a book emblem, but since he never took interest, he didn't bother entering.

After some time, he spotted a building with a sword shaped emblem. Finally, he could get a sword in his hands, he already missed the feeling of swinging his sword.

"Welcome to the training hall" an old man with a smile said as he entered the building. There were some players, but it was relatively empty inside.

Kyle noticed some information when he focused on the old man.

[Odor, Sword training inspector of the beginner village]

Level ???

Background: A friendly old man that likes to help to those with a determined heart

"Young man, why have you come here?" Said Odor with a questioning look.

"To train with the sword, of course" he answered while looking around the hall, he spotted a lot of scarecrows and a wooden sword near each of them. He didn't think much about the old man, he was too eager to start training with the sword, but when he tried lifting one of them up, he got a system notification

He didn't give up and tried to lift it again, but the same message appeared.

"Haha, young man, why are you so eager to use the sword?" Suddenly asked Odor while laughing, Kyle completely forgot about the old man and was scared out of his wits when he heard his voice from behind.

"To train, like I said a few seconds ago" he answered, he didn't understand why would the old man ask such a dumb question.

"That much is plain to see, young man. But why do you wish to train? Is it power you seek? Or perhaps glory and riches?" Asked the Odor, Kyle could swear he saw a glint of bad intent in the old man's eyes.

"No, I just want to train for the sake of training. Can't I train for my own enjoyment instead of some big incredible goal?" He answered with obvious sarcasm, he didn't like being questioned, he just wanted to pick up a sword to calm his mind.

"Interesting, I saw a lot of young men, but you are a rather amusing one. I am interested in your so called training, go ahead, pick up the sword"

[Beginner Sword Mastery]

Level 1 (0%)

Passive: You deal additional 10% damage while using a sword

Gain proficiency by repeatedly using basic attacks or skills related to swords

Kyle picked up the sword, and held it in his hand.

[Training Sword (Trash)]

Physical Damage: 1

Level Requirement: 0

Note: What did you expect?

Kyle was surprised about the sarcastic note, but his passion quickly got the better of him and just like he said, he started training. After 5 minutes of striking the scarecrow, he received a system notification.

Kyle never played a game in his life, he didn't understand what this 'Strength' meant, so he walked to the old man and asked him. "Old man, what is this strength thing and what can it do?"

Odor was shocked, he didn't think this kid was a complete novice. "Strength is one of the stats every player has, to view your stats simply think 'Character Menu' in your mind" Odor said, and then he proceeded to explain what each stat does.

After Odor finished explaining, Kyle did like he told him and opened his character menu.

Name: Swordmaster

Level: 0 (0%)

Race: Human

Class: None

HP 100/100

MP 100/100

HP Regen: 0.5/second

MP Regen: 0.5/second

Strength: 6

Dexterity: 5

Agility: 5

Intelligence: 5

Wisdom: 5

Physical Defense: 0

Magical Defense: 0

Luck: 0

Fame: 0

Equipment:

- Training Sword (Trash)

Skills:

None

Talents:

[Beginner Sword Mastery (LV 1)]

Kyle noticed he didn't have a 'Class', so he asked Odor "Old man, what is a class and how do i get one?"

"You can choose your class at level 10. Your class defines the equipment and skills you can use, each job has it's advantages and disadvantages" Odor explained. "I advise you to choose wisely when the time comes, young man" He added with a serious tone.

Afterwards, Kyle kept training. At first it took him 15 minutes to get more strength, then 30 and after an hour, immediately after his strength grew again, he received a different notification.

[Beginner Sword Mastery]

Level 2 (0.1%)

Passive:

- You deal additional 20% damage while using a sword

- You can comprehend basic sword skills by repeatedly practicing the same sword move

Gain proficiency by repeatedly using basic attacks or skills related to swords

At this point, some players in the hall were already level 1 from doing quests and killing monsters, but Kyle didn't care about his level. He was training because he enjoyed it, he liked the feeling of constant improvement, especially when he was getting stronger by the hour. In the real world, he could train for days without seeing any improvement, but now he was constantly improving.

He suddenly recalled the new addition to his Sword Mastery skill, and decided to try something. He started to strike the scarecrow with his full power, retreated and started over again. He did it for half an hour, and then he received the notification he was looking for.

[Strong Strike (Replica)]

Level 1 (0%)

Active: Your next attack with a sword will deal 150% damage

This skill can be leveled up with repetitive usage

Cost: 10 MP

Cooldown: 10 seconds

[Sword Genius]

You can comprehend and use sword skills of higher level than your Sword Mastery (Max: 3 levels higher)

He was surprised, he didn't expect such bountiful rewards. After receiving so many rewards for comprehending such a simple skill, he decided to try something better. He started using his family's sword art to fight the scarecrow. After half an hour there was no change, but he didn't give up, after another hour and a strength bonus, he finally received a system notification.

After reading the message, he was a bit disappointed, but he understood he went too far. Learning a skill similar to his family's sword art this early in the game wouldn't be fair, but he wasn't one to quit after one failure, so he tried to comprehend new skills while training with a sword.

*****

Meanwhile, inside the same training hall, a small crowd has formed.

"How long did you say he is swinging the sword for?" Asked one of the players.

"He was like that since before i entered the hall"

Answered a player, ironically, his name was 'Sword Freak', but it was obvious who the real sword freak is. Sword Freak arrived at the hall for the first time more than four hours ago, but that player was still swinging his sword at that time.

Players entered and left the training hall, but that player striked the scarecrow all the same, it was like he was inside a world of his own.

*****

5 hours later Kyle gain 2 more strength points and had a few successes.

[Double Strike (Replica)]

Level 1 (13%)

Requirement: Level 3 Beginner Sword Mastery

Active: Attack an enemy twice in succession, dealing 80% with the first strike and 120% with the second

This skill can be leveled up with repetitive usage

Cost: 15 MP

Cooldown: 30 seconds

[Quick Draw (Replica)]

Level 1 (5%)

Requirement: Out of combat, Level 4 Beginner Sword Mastery

Active: Draw your sword with 200% attack speed and deal 150% damage

This skill can be leveled up with repetitive usage

Cost: 25 MP

Cooldown: 1 minute

These were the only skills he managed to comprehend, he wanted to learn defense related skills, but he couldn't possibly do that without being attacked. Regardlessly, his gains weren't small, his Beginner Sword Mastery is close to 35% of level 2.

After looking at his new skills, he noticed that all of them had 'Replica' near their names, so he asked Odor about it.

"Replica skills are different from normal skills you get from skill books, you can't use skill points to level them up, only repeatedly practice them, which makes them a lot harder to train when they reach higher levels." Answered Odor. "Apart from normal skills and replica skills there is also a third type, 'Evolved' skills. These skills are created when you combine a normal skill with a replica, they can be trained both with practice and skill points, and every one of these skills has a special effect, for example the special effect of your 'Strong Strike' skill is the ability to combine it with other skills. Since you seem talented with the way of the sword, I will upgrade this skill for you" he added.

"Thanks old man!" Kyle replied enthusiastically.

[Strong Strike (Evolved)]

Level 1 (83%)

Active: Your next attack with a sword will deal 150% damage

Special Effect: This skill can be combined with most other skills of the same type

This skill can be leveled up with repetitive usage and skill points

Cost: 10 MP

Cooldown: 10 seconds

Because every hour in real life is equal to 3 in 'Replica' it has only been a bit more than 2 hours outside the game, so he still had plenty of time. Since he improved so much simply from training, Kyle was starting getting addicted to training, even more than he ever was, so decided to train until his Beginner Sword Mastery reached level 3.

*****

10 hour after Kyle started to train, a forum post titled "Sword freak in the beginner village" was posted in Replica's forum site. The post showed 2 videos of a player swinging his sword indifferently for 5 minutes, each with the present time displayed at the bottom of the screen. It was clear that there was a 10 hour difference between the videos. But the description was what amazed the players:

'Sword freak striking the same scarecrow for 10 hours without stopping'

The post received thousands of views, and the comments section was full of debate wherever the sword freak is a player or npc, but one thing was for sure, he earned the respect of thousands.

*****

12 hours and 2 additional strength points later, Kyle was finally greeted with the notification he wanted.

He didn't expect the strength training to have a limit, but he figured it makes sense, after all no one wants a level one player to kill monsters dozens of levels above him with one strike.

After almost a full day of training, even he felt that he needed to take a break, so he decided to ask Odor about a question that bothered him for some time "Old man, why do I only gain strength from training? What about the other stats?"

"I thought you will never ask" answered Odor with a grin, he enjoyed helping young adventurers, especially hard working ones like Swordmaster. "Not all stats can be gained from training, but you can get various stats in the other training halls. For example, you can train your dexterity in the archery training hall" he said.

Kyle thanked the old man and decided to use the opportunity of taking a break from sword training to train his other stats, he was such a training freak.

"See you later, old man" he said to Odor. "Farewell, young man. After you finish your training come back to me, I have something I need your help with"

Kyle checked his Character Menu, before starting to walk towards the archery training hall.

Name: Swordmaster

Titles: [Sword Genius]

Level: 0 (0%)

Race: Human

Class: None

HP 100/100

MP 100/100

HP Regen: 0.5/second

MP Regen: 0.5/second

Strength: 15

Vitality: 5

Agility: 5

Intelligence: 5

Wisdom: 5

Physical Defense: 0

Magical Defense: 0

Luck: 0

Fame: 50

Equipment:

None

Skills:

[Strong Strike (LV 2)], [Double Strike (LV 2)], [Quick Draw (LV 2)]

Talents:

[Beginner Sword Mastery (LV 3)]

While walking to the archery training hall, he wondered how can he increase his other stats other than agility, after all he should take the chance to increase all of his stats. Even he could figure out that it won't be that easy to increase them in the future, after he leaves the beginner village.

He remembered there are five types of main stats but only four training halls. But he didn't worry, he was never one to worry about these things, he will know when the time comes.

As he entered the archery building, Kyle was welcomed by a large hall, split into two parts.

One larger part, made out of countless rooms, way more than what could realistically fit inside it, inside each room you could see a long shooting range and a bow near the door.

Players were constantly leaving and entering rooms, and each time someone entered a room the door automatically locked itself and the door changed color from greenish wood to a light red color.

The second part, was like a wasteland compared to the popularity of the other part, it was split into multiple parts, each part was a large room. The surprising part was that there weren't any bows or targets in the rooms, the only difference from a normal room were the holes inside the wall facing the door of each of these room.

In the middle of both parts were two platforms, one similar to a shooting range and the other similar to the rooms with holes, players surrounded the shooting range platform while a single player was shooting at the targets, some players laughed when someone failed and others cried. He figured out they were placing bets, but that didn't really interest him, he came to train.

Based on his experience, he knew he should talk to the hall inspector to get more information.

He spotted an old bearded man with ragged clothes, if it wasn't for the quiver on his back, you could mistake him for a random beggar.

[Ingor, Archery training inspector of the beginner village]

Level ???

Background: A lazy old man that can easily be mistaken for a beggar

"Hello old man, i am here to train. How can i improve my agility?" he asked Ingor. Ingor lazily looked at him and replied "Go to the right, enter one of the rooms and choose a difficulty, the higher the difficulty, the faster you train".

Kyle understood that Ingor doesn't want to be disturbed, so he quickly thanked the old man and followed his instructions.

As he entered the room, he saw a screen magically appearing before him. The screen showcased four buttons: Easy, Normal, Difficult and Extreme.

He immediately chose Extreme without thinking too much, although he liked to train he liked a good challenge even more.

As he clicked the button a countdown from five began.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

As soon as the countdown ended arrows were shot out of the holes in the wall, needless to say, Kyle only lasted a few seconds. He simply couldn't move fast enough to dodge the arrows, and even if he did, the arrows came in groups which required much more than speed in order to dodge.

After this failure he understood that he didn't simply need more agility on order to manage the Extreme level, but a good technique as well. So he set his goal at Difficult for now, although he liked a good challenge, it doesn't mean he would blindly charge to the Extreme level.

After he set his mind, he chose the Difficult level and started training. Kyle was confident in himself, but after a minute he started to understand why the level's name was Difficult, a normal player would only last a few seconds at most, luckily he wasn't a normal player. Just as he thought that he heard a notification

That notification gave him the motivation he needed, his movements stopped looking lazy and he started thinking about the most effective way to dodge the arrows. Although a challenge was enough to motivate him, a good reward was even better.

He knew the arrows were getting faster and spawned in larger groups the longer he lasted.

But so did he, the more arrows he dodged the better he became at dodging arrows, and the less movements he needed to perform in order to do so, not to mention his improving agility.

In the first few tries, he only managed to last a few minutes, while his highest record was five minutes, but after a few hours he gained four more agility points and improved his dodging technique by a large margin, and finally managed to complete the Difficult level.

After congratulating himself for achieving his goal, Kyle wanted to try something new, earlier he wanted to get a defensive sword skill but there wasn't anything that could attack him in the swordsmanship hall, but that wasn't the case here.

The only problem was getting a sword, the training sword couldn't be taken outside of the training hall, so he decided to buy one, although that required money.

He suddenly recalled the platforms in the middle of the archery hall, it looked like players were betting there.

As he approached the platforms, Kyle recieved a notification from the system

[Betting - Place a bet on a player, 90% of the money received from the losing bets is split between the winning bets, based on the amount they bet]

[Challenging a player - Challenge a player to a round, the winner gets 10% of the money received from the losing bets]

[Place a bet / Challenge a player]

He chose to challenge a player, he didn't have any money anyway. He then chose the dodging platform, and the Difficult setting.

After a few minutes of waiting someone finally accepted his challenge.

[Hall Announcement: Player Swordmaster has challenged the player Dodgeball to the Difficult level dodging trial]

"No way, someone challenged the dodging god", said a player. "It has been some time since someone attempted to challenge Dodgeball, he is the village's best archer after all" another player exclaimed.

Kyle heard the players but he didn't worry, he was confident in himself.

Because Dodgeball was the challenged player, he was the first to set the record Kyle needed to break in order to win.

Dodgeball started the trial right after he got teleported to the platform, he didn't waste any time. Dodgeball managed to dodge the arrows for fifteen minutes, which surprised all the surrounding players, and made the ones that placed a bet on him, which were almost all of surrounding players, cheer loudly. But Kyle wasn't impressed.

"Good luck Swordmaster, show us your 'mastery', hahaha" Dodgeball laughed loudly from his own joke before he got teleported out of the platform

Kyle didn't take Dodgeball seriously at all, he was just a walking pile of money for him, or rather, a pile of bronze coins.

He could easily surpass the fifteen minutes record, but he wanted to challenge himself a bit, so he decided to dodge with his hands behind his back. Although its not like fighting with his hands behind his back, dodging with no hands is still hard.

Apparently, the other players didn't think the same as he did. "Hahaha, he already gave up, he doesn't even lift his hands" said one of the players, "I told you not to bet on him, but you had to do it, always looking for dark horses" said another.

But they were in for a surprise, he easily dodged all the arrows without moving his hands even once, he already finished this difficulty after all, fifteen minutes are nothing to him.

Kyle though he would recieve more than half a silver coin, but he figured out its just a small training hall in a beginner village, he shouldn't expect for much. He got 50 copper because almost no one but one lucky player placed a bet on him, if Dodgeball won the guy wouldn't have recieved more than 10 copper.

*****

Meanwhile, a new post have been uploaded to the forums "The return of the sword freak, now a dodging freak as well"

The post showed Dodgeball's arrogance and how Kyle easily beat him with his hands behind his back, literally.

The video was recorded by a fan who watched the first forum post about the sword freak. The fan went on about how lucky he was to earn 450 bronze coins while only placing a bet of one copper coin.

The comment section exploded, some people cursing the fan with the good luck while others thanking him for sharing the video, players could learn based on the dodging techniques shown in the video after all.

The post was even more successful than the first one, it seems like a legend was beginning to take form.

*****

As he left the hall, Kyle started walking towards a blacksmithing shop he spotted on the way to the archery hall, he needed to buy a sword so he could learn defensive sword skills.

As he entered the shop, he spotted a muscular blacksmith wearing fitting clothes with no sleeves, showcasing his glorious tattoos to the world, but Kyle ignored him and started looking for a sword, there were many kinds of swords, but most of them were priced at one silver or above which was more than twice of what he had.

"How can i help you?" The blacksmith asked him while looking at him wryly, after all he was still wearing the starting clothes that aren't even worth enough to be considered items. "Do you have any cheap sword that could be used for training?" Kyle responded with a question.

"Of course, is this what you are looking for?" said the blacksmith as he proceeded to take a plain looking sword from below the counter.

[Plain Old Sword (Common)]

Physical Damage: 2

Level Requirement: 0

Durability: 10/10

Note: A simple old sword made by a beginner blacksmith

"Yea it looks good, how much for it?" He asked the blacksmith.

The blacksmith told him he could have it for 10 copper, so he purchased the sword.

After finally getting his own sword he excitedly left the store, he wanted to use the sword while dodging the arrows to get defensive skills, and at the same time raise his agility, this kind of efficient training is what he liked the most.

As he entered a random dodging room he selected the Difficult level, and started training.