Fate Online: Shadow

'This place is good enough' Michael thought as he looked around his surroundings.

Then he circled around the compound and looked for a secluded spot where he could enter the place without anyone's notice, and one of the reasons why Michael chose this place among abandoned buildings in the city is that it doesn't have CCTV cameras from what he could remember.

"Alright, it seems no one is around now" Michael murmured as he jumped over the wall of the building and made a dash towards an open window and jumped inside, rolled on the floor and immediately stood up.

Michael dusted himself off and started walking around the building as he started checking every nook and cranny of the place, for possible escape routes and other entrances for people to come in or if there are signs of homeless people living in this abandoned hospital.

After all, he didn't want others to know that he's here.

And so far, he didn't notice any signs of people making this place their home, and then Michael took out his pair of daggers from their sheaths and started twirling them around.

"This daggers are really good, just what you'd expect from that guy" Michael murmured seemingly really satisfied with his new weapon.

But he didn't have any plans of going back to his old life, he just wanted to be sure to always be in tip top shape just in case trouble finds him instead.

After all, his great life is just starting now.

Michael went to a wide area he saw earlier and started practicing there, he put the two daggers in a reverse grip, then he executed a boxing stance with the two daggers in his hands and started shadow boxing.

What he's currently doing might have looked like he was really practicing boxing and those daggers in his hands are just decorations, but if a person with keen eyes and could understand what Michael is trying to do then they would actually realized that he is actually trying to utilize dagger techniques through boxing.

So if he throws a right hook, his fist wouldn't connect with the target and instead it would be the blade of the dagger.

Michael trained there for two hours before deciding to call it a day, and then he left the place through another exit just to be safe.

*****

Evening.

Michael had just gotten back from his individual training from the nearby park, and so he immediately headed to take a shower, and after that, at around nine o'clock in the evening.

He logged into the game, where he immediately appeared from where he left off before, on top of a hill that overlooks almost half of the entire town that's already within his sights.

"Finally back!" Michael yelled smiling.

"Let's go!" Michael lightly shook the reins, and the horse started trotting towards the direction of the town.

Michael wasn't the only person heading towards the town, as there are also NPCs and other players around him, he even saw a lot of low level players hunting foxes, rabbits and other small animals around the town.

Then while riding his horse, he suddenly noticed a figure killing a fox with a shortsword from a distance, and it was almost a face very familiar to him.

"Lilian?" Michael muttered with shock, as he immediately made his horse move towards that person.

Moments later, Michael arrived in front of that female player, and the latter is cautiously watching him because she already noticed this rider earlier that he's clearly heading towards her.

"Who are you?" this Level 5 red head called Azure Lady asked Michael coldly, while gripping her weapon tightly in her hands.

Michael didn't say anything but just looked at her, but the person on the receiving end is clearly annoyed by this person in front of her because this person just interrupted her, and even though she can't see the level of the cloaked rider in front of her, she's not afraid as her eyes were blazing with battle intent which made Michael chuckle, and then he left, it was because he's not sure if she is that he knows or its just someone else whose face is almost identical to her, but even if she is, then it's not his business anymore of why she's also playing this game.

The woman stood there confused as she watched the person moving away from him, and those watching them also went back to killing monsters with disappointed looks because they thought it was some kind of an NPC.

And a few minutes later, Michael finally arrived inside the town called Durinberg, and upon passing through the town's gate, what greeted Michael are rows upon rows of buildings, from commercial to residential buildings, and different from Haven City, the peddlers from NPCs to players here are all lined up at almost every street corner, some desolate while some are booming with customers.

And Michael already feels like he likes this town as the crowd is lesser than Haven City but just a bit more than Timor Village.

Actually, Michael could've just stayed at Haven City and grind his level there as there are also higher leveled maps near the city, but Michael wanted to travel and sightsee the continent of this game.

And the feeling of living in a somewhat medieval era with swords and magic inside the game is very fulfilling for him.

Michael got down from his horse and called it back into his [Storage] space.

Then he started looking around for NPCs that would give him some quest.

But even when he roamed the entire place for almost two hours, he had never seen an NPC that would give him a satisfying quest which truly bummed him out, and so he instead started replenishing his stocks and went to a blacksmith to repair his hidden crossbow.

*****

Michael finally filled seventy percent of his experience bar to reach Level 15 after killing a Level 18 Orc.

He continued hunting down Orcs until trouble arrives just when he only needed another fifteen percent more to level up.

"Hey you! Get out of this map! This is now the hunting ground of our Devion Guild!"

A team of six players appeared in front of Michael, as the leader of the party started chasing him out with hostility and arrogance in his voice.

*Sigh*

Michael just sighed at this helplessly.

'Why can't people just leave me in peace?'