In the midst of a dozen other combatants, only one ran at the colossal, man-dragon without hesitation. The young man leapt in with his weapons of choice: twin daggers of a cold, jet-black material. 

"Finish it off, Echo!" 

"It's all yours!" 

The black-hooded dagger wielder swept by with a flick of one of his obsidian blades, leaving an ethereal, killing trace: ["Blade of Hades"] 

The execution finished off the nearly dead boss, leaving it to dust. It was a performance that left the others stunned, as though they were merely spectators of the bout between the player and the boss. 

"Phew," the young man of shaggy, silver hair exhaled as he landed, wiping his fists off. "Status." 

["Echo"]

[Class: Shadow Thief] 

[Level: 150] [EXP: MAX] 

The allies he was surrounded by in the raid celebrated the victory, though the one who landed the finishing blow could only let out a small sigh as he adjusted the sleeves of his black uniform.

'This is getting boring. The game has gotten too easy. I almost miss the old times…being level one, fighting my way up without any knowledge–just doing my best,' he reminisced. 

"Good shit, Echo!" A rowdy man in heavy, cerulean armor complimented him with a laugh and a slap on the back. 

"It was nothing, Barricade," Echo responded, opening his personal menu as he scrolled through his inventory to check the spoils of his victory. "I'm going to log off for the night."

"Aw, so early?" Barricade asked with a disappointed sigh.

"Sorry, man. I've got work in the morning," Echo said, swiping through his personal interface as he located the button he sought. 

[LOG OUT] 

As he tapped the prompt, everything went black; the natural process as the one-to-one virtual reality technology carefully transitioned his consciousness from the digital realm back to reality. 

'Maybe it's time I quit. It's just not fun anymore. After all, I have to make money. That's what a respectable adult does, right? Nine-to-five, six days a week…I'm twenty right now, so about thirty more years of this? Man,' he thought with little joy left in his mind. 

The process came to an end as he found his eyelids opening, blinking a few times with the familiar sensation of a bed under him. Above his head was the same roof he always woke up after a virtual dive; beige with a rickety fan above, monotonously spinning. 

"Ah, how long was that dive?" He asked himself in a mumble, sliding out of bed as his body felt as though it'd been motionless for more than a few hours. 

On the nightstand beside his bed, he grabbed his phone, tapping the screen to get the time: 

[GOOD EVENING, FINN | 10:05 P.M.]

Something else stood out to him–the current day. It was supposed to be Sunday night, yet what it said near the time was something else entirely: Thursday. 

"What?" Finn said in disbelief, unlocking his phone as he went to open the search engine. 

As the internet app opened, only a blank page was met with a single line: "NO INTERNET CONNECTION."

Checking a social media app instead, the same line was presented to him; attempting to send a message to any of his contacts brought him a similar prompt–no signal. 

'What the hell's going on? Some kind of internet outage?' He questioned, fixing his messy, dark hair. 

As he stood up from his bed, he passed by the window, rubbing his eyes as he tiredly failed to focus on the screams coming from the street, along with the sounds of blaring car alarms. 

'Sure is loud tonight…Weird,' he thought. 

He went to the kitchen, which was only a few steps away in his compact apartment, finding his throat awfully dry as he grabbed a glass, bringing it under the sink to fill it with cold water. As it filled, he looked towards the window, noticing peculiar flashes coming from outside, along with volatile noises that he could hardly describe. 

'What's going on? Fireworks?' The thought occurred to his groggy mind, still adjusting from his time in the game. 

He brought the cup of water to his lips, gulping it down as it felt as though he drank a potion of vitality straight out of a fantasy RPG. As he downed the thirst-quenching substance, he curiously walked over to his bedside window, parting the blinds as he peeked through. He held a high vantage point, able to see multiple blocks. 

"What the fuck…?" He quietly remarked in disbelief. 

The street was in complete chaos; cars were crashed and totaled, some through buildings. Lifeless bodies laid bloodied on the pavement, some still wounded and struggling, attempting to flee what hunted them down. 

He recognized immediately what the creatures were: long-eared, green-skinned fiends that moved in packs, acting with complete brutality. 

'Goblins?' He realized. 

"Aaaah!"

"What the fuck is that?!"

"Get out of here!" 

The screams of those outside echoed as some tried to record the creatures with their phones while others fled. 

It wasn't just the short-statured fiends, but taller, muscle-bound variants, that moved faster than olympic athletes, with strength beyond human–orcs. 

Cops stood by their cars, aiming their pistols at the muscular barbarians, clearly shaken by the inexplicable chaos that consumed the city. 

"Don't move!"

"Fuck! Just shoot!" 

As the officers opened fire, the orc presented supernatural physical abilities, dashing over before any bullets could make contact. It was a brutal display; the green-skinned brute tore one of the cop's heads off with a single swipe of its hands. 

"Shit!--" The other officer yelled. 

Before the unfortunate defendant of the city could adjust his aim, his skull was crushed by a single thrust of the orc's fist. 

Finn watched all of it unfold, backing away from the window as he questioned if he was dreaming, though it all seemed too real. 

'Did the VR fry my brain or something? There's just…no way, right? What I saw…it's hell out there,' he thought, feeling ill recalling what he saw just a moment prior. 

BANG 

Before he could gather his thoughts, the front door was hit harshly. It was loud enough to cause him to jump, turning around to face the entrance into his apartment. 

He was left in nothing more than a plain, black tee and baggy, gray sweats–not optimally ready for whatever was trying to get in. 

'What the fuck is going on–? This is too much–wake up already if I'm dreaming! Those monsters…they were from Avalon, no doubt about it–but how?' He thought before any impact struck the door. 

This time, the blunt strike broke through, causing pieces of wood to fling inward. He saw what stood behind it; a burly orc layered in scars, wielding a massive club of stone. 

[Status Initiated] 

"What?"

Before his eyes as his door was being assaulted, a prompt of blue letters met his view with a monotone voice; a familiar interface from that of Avalon Online, only shown to him in real life. 

[...Assessing life experience…] 

[Assessment Complete] 

[Name: Finn Thorne] 

[Age: 20] 

[Designated Class: Assassin] 

[Starting Level: 5] 

[A [Legacy System] has been bestowed to you for your accomplishments within Avalon.]

[Assimilation System Awakened.] 

All at once, the status overwhelmed him with a flurry of information, culminating in the object that materialized in his right hand. Born of particles that coalesced, he found a plain, silver dagger in his grip. 

"This is…?" He mumbled to himself, finding it all sinking in. 

Just as he put it together, the door crashed through with one more blow, sending pieces of wood flying out. 

As though it were made merely of paper mache, the orcish brute simply walked through the remnants of the door; a terrifying display of brawn. 

'Shit…There it is, in the flesh. I've killed thousands of orcs…I was never scared of them in Avalon. But now? This is different,' he thought, holding his simple dagger up as he hesitantly faced the intruder. 

It was completely new, staring it down in person; the orc's height made it hardly able to stand up straight in his compact apartment. Each step it took caused the floorboards to rattle as it dragged the dense club across the wooden floor with a screeching sound. 

More than its physical intimidation was the pitch-black, beady eyes it stared him down with; complete and utter bloodlust was inlaid into them. 

'Alright…Think, if this is really happening, if this is all really based on Avalon, then at level five…I should have a few skills to work with,' he thought, squeezing the handle of the dagger he wielded. 

The orc slowly approached him, knowing there was nowhere that the young man could flee to as he was cornered. 

As it stomped closer, the tusk-fanged barbarian hoisted its club over its head before slamming it down upon the man. 

There was no time to think, only move as he placed his trust in his own hypothesis— 

["Silent Roll"] 

He rolled to the left with a shroud of darkness, avoiding the club swiftly. As the orc's weapon crashed down, the impact shattered the floorboards. 

Finn quickly jumped back to his feet, having rolled onto his bed. 

'That worked—just like the game,' he thought, surprised he was still alive. 

The orc was quick to attack again, swinging its weapon with the clear intent to pulverize the young man's ribs. He instinctively ducked down, flicking his dagger up as he initiated another starter skill–

["Tendon Slice"] [1:59] 

A cooldown was natural to the skill, briefly appearing in his vision as two minutes. 

The strike naturally gravitated his strike to the tendon of the orc's wrist in a quick counterattack. It was an action he performed more times than he could count within Avalon, though the sensation was vastly different in the flesh. 

He felt the blade cut into the muscle of the barbarian, meeting his ears with a grotesque squelch before scarlet liquid spilled down. 

'--I did it,' he thought, looking up in surprise. 

As he brought himself back up after the duck-and-counter, the tendon-focusing slash left the orc unable to lift its club anymore. The brute was clearly confused by the failure of its own wrist, stumbling back as it grumbled before turning into a perplexed rage. 

'Whenever I disabled an orc's weapon-wielding hand in Avalon, the first thing they'd try to do was grab me by my shoulders–will it do the same?' He remembered. 

In the face of the brute that towered over him, snarling its tusks as it stomped across the wooden floorboards, he found himself having to convince himself to see it as a simple skirmish like that of Avalon Online. 

He ignored that his life was on the line, going through the motions he had gone through countless times as he flipped his dagger into a reverse grip. Just as the orc got within reach of him, he met it halfway with a quick step. 

["Assassin's Strike"] [2:29] 

The foundation skill of all assassins, one used even past beginner levels; he swept his blade cleanly across the green-skinned brute's throat. 

"I did it—" He began to say, looking up as he breathed out. 

The feeling of triumph was washed away as he found himself suddenly grabbed. Even with its throat slit, the bleeding orc forcibly rammed him against the wall. 

"Nngh!—" Finn struggled, finding the brute's strength gripping hard enough that he felt it against his bones. 

Usually, such a pivotal strike on a weak point was enough to defeat an orc. 

He had the wind knocked out of him by having his back slammed, cracking the wall. 

'That's right…This isn't some NPC in a game—this is a real, flesh-and-blood creature. It operates completely differently!' He realized. 

The orc yelled in his face, far too close as its breath that reeked of foul meat invaded his sense of smell. It seemed that the brute was simply acting out of desperate rage, gripping onto his neck as it squeezed—

"—Hhn!" 

He raised his bloodied dagger before plunging it into the skull of the one who choked him. The asphyxiation was brought to a halt. 

["Verdant Orc defeated."] ["Anarch Token x10 obtained."]

[Experience Points: +450] [450/1000] 

[Assimilated Ability from [Verdant Orc]: "Orcish Boost" | 1/5] 

"…Hah…" 

He caught his breath as he slid his dagger out, watching the now lifeless brute slump over. 

"Shit, I survived…" He mumbled to himself, nudging his foot against the slain orc a few times to make sure it was down for the count. 

A moment was taken to get his bearings as he processed what had just happened. 

'This is real…It's not a nightmare. It's like Avalon Online has merged with reality—but, this "Assimilation System"—it's something new. I obtained some ability from it after killing that thing,' he considered, looking at his hand.