7 A Shocking Surprise

"With this, we wish you good luck in your journey in Ashes of Gods."

With these parting words, Gabriel's right hand glittered in a myriad of colors as she swiped in the air creating a colorful tear in space. As if she pulled a curtain, Shesmu's vision turned a golden white for a second, before he saw himself materializing in another place, kneeling on the ground. The floor was made out of wood. Shesmu could feel its dry and grained texture. For some reason, even though he already experienced the realism of Ashes of Gods countless times in his past life, he still felt surprised at the sensation. It was as if this was the first time Shesmu entered this world.

Looking up, Shesmu's eyes crossed with that of a person with high stature. The unknown man's posture was disciplined, like that of a soldier or a dojo master. He wore a pair of metal shoulder plates, chainmail covered by a green vest that was coupled with dark green pants. His muscles were bursting out of his vest, scars of battle decorated his face and arms, telling tales of all the wars he survived. All of a sudden, Shesmu who was staring at him felt a great sense of danger. The man in front of him became much larger, his eyes only focusing on him, not noticing anything of the surrounding. The man felt like a feral beast, green aura full of ferocity was emanating from him.

For a second, Shesmu was trapped under this illusion, before he finally snapped out of it.

Bloodthirst passive, huh? Isn't that a high-level skill, I guess this guy is not half bad. At the very least he is a Tier 2. But to think I would actually succumb to the effect of this skill for so long. I know that this is just a level 0's body but… My senses are really no longer as sharp as they used to be. This is weird…

Stopping his inner monologue, Shesmu snapped back to reality. As he was stepping up, Shesmu looked at the man in front of him before stepping dead on his tracks. His eyes were cold, this time, it wasn't unintentional bloodlust leaking from him, the man really wanted to kill him here and now. And, as if everything was but an illusion, the man's cold turned soft in a second, a smile filling his face.

"Hey, young'un, get up. The look in your face is as if you just saw a demon. Hahaha!"

Seeing the man who was just about to eat him alive turn into a kind middle-aged man felt awkward to Shesmu, to say the least. However, it didn't take long for him to just shake off that feeling and go with the flow. There were many weird people everywhere, if he were to be stuck whenever one of them does something weird, Shesmu would not get anywhere.

Once Shesmu sat up, the man started talking.

"My name is Leonard, and I'm a warrior instructor. Here I'll be teaching you the basics of how to be a warrior!"

As Leonard was talking, Shesmu's eyes drifted to his surrounding. As expected, he saw the shadows.

Noticing where Shesmu's attention went, the instruction tried to clear his confusion.

"Oh, these are the ghosts. They are a representation of your comrades from the golden generation in this plane. Each of you is in a different plane with a different instructor so that none bothers anyone in their training."

Shesmu knew all of this, but he still found it funny how the inhabitants of this world call players the golden generation.

Each of the ghosts was doing something different. Some were listening to their instructors, others already started training, and some just kept fooling around trying to get a reaction from the other ghosts.

"First of all, we need to know with which weapon do you see fit for your style. It may determine your future advancement in the mighty path of the warrior. You can always choose to wield any of the other weapons you see here."

To this question, Shesmu answered shortly.

"A long sword."

He would have chosen a longsword as his main weapon and a short one as his secondary. This was the setup he went within his past life. However, he already knew that this was impossible as secondary weapons weren't available until you get promoted to the second tier of your class. In the lore, it was because only an expert could possibly know how to maneuver more than a single type of weapon.

"Oh, we seem to be kindred spirits! Remember young'un, the sword chooses its master, so be worthy lest you get rejected by your own sword! Hahaha!"

Leonard laughed as he patted Shesmu's back. Each one of his taps felt more like a boulder slamming on Shesmu's back, rather than human hands.

"Hack, hack!" Leonard's friendly pats hit Shesmu so hard that he felt his bones shaking. The teenager felt that if he hadn't strengthened his internal organs in the character creation process, he might have really suffered some internal injuries.

Goddammit, what have I done to suffer like this! Was he that violent last time?

"Haha, you sure do have a backbone. Most people would have fallen to their knees from my greeting pat. Hahaha!"

For some reason, a strong urge to go up and pummel Leonard until he drops dead burned inside Shesmu. The only thing that was stopping him from doing so was the rational side of him that said "You're gonna get rekt before you even take the first step, so calm down."

"Anyway, enough with the rambling, I'm sure that the fire inside your heart is waiting to be unleashed! Come, here is your sword."

As he said those words, Leonard materialized a long sword in his hand. It didn't look anything spectacular. In fact, Shesmu could tell from a distance that the sword's blade was too blunt. The amount of damage one can do with this thing is negligible.

Shesmu moved forward to take the sword from Leonard's hands. He was excited, it had been quite a long time since he touched a sword, and even if it was a blunt one, Shesmu didn't mind. He was looking forward to playing around with it. Without a sword in his hands, Shesmu felt that something was lacking. He will finally be able to fill that gap in his heart.

However, when Shesmu took ahold of the long sword, it wasn't joy that welcomed him, but an all-engulfing terror. His hands started shaking, and his eyes were unbelieving. His legs failed him and he fell down to his knees. He could feel it, and he understood it with every fiber of his being. The sword felt alien, almost as if it was the first time he ever touched one.