Inside a tall skyscraper in the middle of Tokyo…

“Did you manage to recruit him?” A man sitting on a chair with his back facing the door spoke in a deep grave tone.

The skinny businessman shook his head, “No sir, player Han Ling had no interest in joining our association.”

The man turned around, revealing a handsome middle-aged man with brown goatee. “Hmm… It is expected, even that damn snake couldn’t recruit him.” This man is one of the richest men in Japan, Kazuto Kirigami, also know as the Steel Giant for his immense control over the steel industry in Japan.

“What should we do next sir?” the businessman nervously asked.

Kazuto sighed, “Where will he go?” “We couldn’t track his location sir, even our best trackers were useless to find him…”

“Hmm… I see, we’ll just have to wait for some news of him, in the mean time continue with the training.”

The businessman nodded and left, constantly wondering where Han Ling could be…

>>>

On a boat heading to Hokkaido, Han Ling took a good look at his stats and equipment.

Han Ling (Human)

Level: 19 (8900/20000 XP to level 20)

Age: 15

Class: Swordsman (Soldier rank)

ATK: 56

DEF: 42

SPD: 77

ATK SPD: 54

Mana: 60/100

HP: 800/800

Free Basic Points: 21

Class Bonus: Swordsman

Swordsman buff: 1 handed sword attacks deal 7% more dmg.

Swordsman buff: 2 handed sword attacks deal 7% more dmg.

Swordsman buff: Gains ATK SPD attribute.

Skill:

LVL 3 Slash. Active skill. Slashes forward and deal additional 5-8% dmg. CD 3 seconds. No stamina consumption.

LVL 3 Thrust. Active skill. Sword thrusts forward and deal 5-10% dmg. CD 5 seconds. No stamina consumption.

LVL 2 Cross Slash. Active Skill. Slashes in a X, dealing 20% of ATK, hitting lethal parts will double the damage. Cooldown: 20 seconds. Stamina consumption: 15.

LVL 1 Sword Aura. Active Skill. A sword is imbued with mana, increasing Attack Damage by 20% of Atk. Lasts for 30 Seconds. Cooldown is 60 seconds. Mana cost: 20

Techniques:

LVL 1 Mana Organ. (Common Technique)- Grants player a mana organ. Give player 100 mana points. 1 Mana point is refilled every minute. XP to LVL up (0/100)

LVL 1 Mana Skin (Uncommon technique)- Player is covered in a mana skin, becomes immune to external effects and acts as armour. Mana Cost: 10.

Equipment:

Bloody Baron’s Blade. (Silent Silver Sword)

Mask of Dark (Serene Silver)

Coat of Night (Silent Silver)

Han Ling was satisfied with the equipment he had, yet he still needed to become stronger, much stronger than in his past life…

He looked at the Bloody Baron’s Blade, feeling old emotions well up, he remembered the happiness he had when he first obtained it, the fear of a weapon so powerful and so brutal, the sadness of his best friend stealing the sword and leaving the world soon after.

It was a pain for Han Ling to remember those memories, yet he only sighed…

He closed his eyes for a while, bathing in those memories he wished to forget and opened them again, eyes blank like the calm before the storm.

I’ll rise to the top… and this time alone, without betrayal, without aid, and without friends… I’ll be the Solo King! And this blade will be key to it.

Han Ling sighed, even then it won’t be enough in the future, I’ll need another unique element to really stand a chance.

In the future, there were hundreds of unique elements as well as different types of the ten elements. There was the most powerful and brutal element, death, a higher level of the ten elements dark, it was in the hands of one of the top players, Child of Death. He was only fourteen when he reached the top, with skills that could kill without moving a muscle.

Fortunately, his power was used only against monsters, but the future demons would be too powerful for even him. But other unique elements would appear all over the world, poison, cloud, iron, life, magma, mercury etc.

Countless powerful players all have unique elements, save some of those lucky players with legendary weapons or artifacts.

Even then, there was never one person with two unique elements, and with the knowledge of the coming future, he would dominate the world, and save humanity from the horrifying creatures coming…

>>>

Han Ling reached the shore of Hokkaido, finding many people attempting to migrate to a safer place, but in truth, no where is safe from the monsters. A rank B dungeon spawned in the city of Kitami, forcing the citizens to evacuate. Even then the city is still plagued by the horde of monsters as no current player can resist the powerful beasts flooding from the gate.

Han Ling contemplated about going there but gaining the second unique element is a better idea. The only thing that matters is for him to become stronger.

So, he first made his way to Mount Fuji, where a rank C gate spawned at the foot of the mountain. The moment he arrived, the gate glowed white, meaning the a dungeon outbreak will occur soon. Han Ling sighed at his bad luck, “Great… now I got to deal with this first before heading to the top- Tch annoying.” The gate was smack dab in the middle of an opening in the forest, and already people were rushing to notify the authorities.

It didn’t take long for soldiers and players to surround the gate, forming a fan shaped barricade around the gate, soldiers raised their guns while the players raised their weapons. Around 30 players arrived at the gate, a large number of players, yet it’ll be too little against Rank C beasts. Luckily, beasts can only exit the gate in groups of 3 at a time, giving the players some time to defeat them before more exit.

However…

GUAHHHHHH

A 10 feet tall ogre stepped out of the gate, roaring as it breathed Earth’s air.

“F*ck! Why is there such a big Ogre!”

“It’s the boss! It has to be the boss!”

“Kill it! Kill it!”

Lights flashed, and the ogre was riddled with bullets, yet his health bar only decreased slightly, washing a wave of despair over the soldiers. A berserker leaped forward, bringing his axe down with a huge chop, blood gushing from the wound on its shoulder. But the ogre’s health bar still decreased slightly.

Seeing the lack of damage, the berserker chopped again, but the ogre grabbed the berserker on his shoulder, watching the human struggle in its grasps, before squeezing till bones broke like sticks.

“AHHHHHH F*CK AHHHH IT HURTS AHHHHHHHHH!” The Berserker screamed at the top of his lungs; horrible immense pain erupted all over his body. The ogre frowned, raising its other hand and squishing the head of the berserker between his fingers. A shower of blood rained on the humans, forcing some to vomit while all of them were pale. Soon more and more ogres appeared, standing behind the first, staring at the puny humans with hungry glints in their eyes.

Just as one ogre reached down to grab one of the female healers, a red flash flickered over the eyes of the healer. The ogre’s hand dropped to the ground, its hand completely severed. The ogre roared in pain, falling back as it clutched its severed hand. The other ogres turned to the source of the flash, eyes shaking with anger and a hint of fear.

From the cold forest, a man with a black coat and a black red demon mask stepped into the clearing, a red tinted sword gleaming in the light. One ogre roared and dashed forward, throwing a fist to the human, but his entire arm was sliced in half, causing the ogre to fall back, crying and roaring as it held its cleaved arm. The other ogres stared at the swordsman with fear evident in their eyes.

As Han Ling stepped forward, the ogres stepped back. Seeing this, Han Ling sighed, snapping his fingers once.

[Six Blood Forms: 1st form. Red Burst]

The blood splattered all over the ground rose and flew towards him, swirling around him like a storm before solidifying into nine red sabres. Han Ling pointed at the group of ogres, and the sabres flew to their targets…with Han Ling following behind.

The sabres stabbed and slashed, mainly blinding and distracting the ogres, leaving Han Ling to easily kill the giants.

Han Ling leaped into the air, slashing across the fat neck of the ogre, completely beheading the beast. But before he landed he glanced at the second ogre and exploded into a cloud of blood.

[Six Blood Forms: 2nd form. Blood Cloud]

Han Ling warped to the sabre slashing the second ogre’s face, spraying blood into the air. With the death of the second ogre, the third tried to run but could only find gravity taking his body as his ankles were sliced.

As its body fell, Han Ling exploded into a cloud of blood, warping next to the falling body, slashing upwards casually, beheading the falling ogre, before grabbing the falling head with the other hand.

The last ogre was trying to run back into the gate but fell forward as the head of the third ogre slammed into the back of his head, completely killing its brain.

The soldiers and players running away froze, gaping at the scene in front of them, three ogres died in less than a few seconds. They watched the swordsman ruthlessly stab his sword into the chest of the bleeding ogres, not even blinking as blood splattered his mask.

He turned to look at the crowd, seeing the look of awe and fear on their faces. Han Ling sighed softly, entering the gate without any hesitation. The players started to breath…

“Holy… So, that’s the Blood Mask, he’s a lot scarier than I thought.” A swordsman gasped from lack of air.

“I wonder how he looks under that mask. I hope he’s handsome!” a female summoner said with a seductive smile on her face.

“Why is he here though? Didn’t he kill the giant croc a day ago?”

‘I wonder how much we can get from this information, hehe.”

>>>

“Han Ling is in Hokkaido?” The young man frowned at the report, feeling annoyance bubbling up. “Yes, sir we have video proof that he left the portal at the base of Mount Fuji.” The woman with her hair tied into a bun gave the man a tablet, showing a man with a black coat exploding into a cloud of blood the moment he exited the closing gate.

“Hmph! It really is that kid! What’s he doing at Mount Fuji?” the man breathed out heavily as he turned to the woman.

“We have no leads sir, we’re in the dark on anything Blood Mask does sir.”

“You still intend to call him Blood Mask?” the man raised an eyebrow. “Yes, sir, as it very much suits his fighting style.”

The man was silent for a while, “Where do you think he obtained that power?”

The woman shut her mouth, unable to come up with an answer. “Haish… Its too bad he rejected my proposition, even when I offered him the role of captain…such a shame.”

“For now, find anything you can on how he got that power, if we can get it, we’ll be the top team in Japan.”