Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

Adam put on some clothes, his shoes and his jacket before walking out of the house, locking behind him.

He lived in a big city, in New York. He was born and raised here, and so was his mother and his brother. Only his father, Jean, didn't come from New York, but from France instead, which was why Adam was able to speak both English and French.

In this age, New York was one of the most influential and popular cities in the world, and with this came several companies. There are a total of two Super Guilds, as well as eleven First Tier Guilds. This was a record only beaten by Paris, who had three Super Guilds.

Since there was less than a hundred Super Guilds worldwide, having multiple ones in a city was amazing. Only the biggest cities such as New York, Seoul, Rio de Janeiro, London, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Sidney, Moscow, New Delhi or Cairo.

Having two Super Guilds in a single city was a sign of power, as Super Guilds were, in a sense, multi millionaire companies. While this was a sign of power, it also brought rivalries.

Many, many people followed the gaming scene, and so the different guilds had fans, who would sometime go so far as to fight in the name of their favorite guilds.

It could be said that the guilds had replaced the sporting clubs, football, baseball, soccer, basketball and hockey had almost disappeared by now, everyone cared about VR now.

And it was understandable. One could experience impossible things such as flying, recreating past events such as Woodstock, or even godhood!

In comparison to that, in comparison to the epic battles of swords and magic, sports like football really seemed boring.

And with the ever growing realism of games, this pushed many people toward dojos and gyms, to learn how to fight. 50 years ago, parents were worried their children and grandchildren would know nothing about manual work and get weak bodies.

But humans had never been so fit, it was in the era of peace that humans became the most powerful. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the elite teams of a First Tier Guild could rival the legendary Spartans, and a Super Guild could probably crush the Roman Empire of old.

Of course, that didn't mean they were above the law. In the past there had been a Dark Super Guild that had overestimated itself and tried to take over a city for themselves, not hesitating to kill. Their status in games had gotten to their heads and they thought they were invincible.

They did take the city, but 6 hours later the army came in with half the men the guild had, but all armed with guns. That Dark Guild disappeared, and all the guilds around the world received a severe warning.

No matter how good one is with martial arts, it is nothing in front of a rifle.

Now that he knew about the existence of cultivators though, Adam doubted that it would be this easy to stop a Super Guild. He suspected the government had sent cultivators too, as bullets had limits.

Either that, or cultivators were stuck in low realms and even the leaders of Super Guilds weren't that strong. Anyway, Adam planned to visit one of the dojos of First Tier Guilds or even Super Guilds tonight, since his friends and him would probably go there anyway.

Adam didn't take long to reach the city center, where young people would often gather as that's where there were the most bars and restaurants, including the one Adam's parents worked at.

After walking a bit, Adam finally saw his friends. Three of them had already arrived, and as it seemed they had already ordered drinks for them. As he walked toward them though, he turned his head to the side, squinting his eyes.

On his right, a gorgeous woman had just exited a store, and as she appeared in front of everyone they quieted down, and looked at her with admiration.

As for Adam, he could feel she was strong. She had opened the 1st Gate, but she was also stronger than a normal human. She had broken through to the Bronze Rank, and she was quite advanced at that.

As Adam looked at her, she too fixed her eyes on Adam. She could feel his strength, or at least part of it. The capacity Adam had to hide his strength was something he gained from opening the 5th Gate in his alternate life as Old Adam, to control one's aura to such an extent could only be done by a 5th Gate.

Even though he hadn't opened it yet, the experience was still there, and hiding his true strength was one of the things one could only learn by opening the Gate of Life, but could be replicated by someone who didn't.

That's why, in that woman's eyes, Adam looked like he had opened the Gate of Opening and the Gate of Healing, and had just broken through to the Bronze Realm.

What shocked her was that she didn't recognize him. There were plenty of cultivators on Earth, although most were very weak, they still existed, but for someone to be barely older than 20 and have opened the first two Gates, he was bound to be known as a talent worldwide, especially if she could meet him in the middle of a street in New York.

She herself was renowned in the cultivator community through the entire world because she had opened the First Gate at 20 years old.

So for her to meet this man, who looked even more talented than her, and not to know him, she felt shocked.

As for Adam, he looked at her in the eyes but he focused on what the people around them were whispering, and was able to learn of her identity. East Wind, the greatest talent of the First Tier Guild Aeolus.

She was a celebrity, both for her extraordinary beauty and her fearsome strength. Moreover, the Aeolus guild she was in was in the middle of a change of guild leader, and she was the favorite candidate. If nothing unexpected happened, then she would become the next guild leader of Aeolus.

So seeing her in the middle of the street was inconceivable for all those people. That made Adam smile though, it looked like he was right. Guilds looked like they were the sects of cultivation worlds, where cultivators gathered.

Also, it gave him an idea of how strong cultivators of this world were. Thanks to having opened the 3rd Gate, Adam held no doubt he could beat her, no matter what skills she had mastered. If such a person had serious chances of becoming the Guild Leader of a First Tier Guild, then Adam doubted even the best experts of this world had gone beyond the third of fourth Gate.

As the two stared at each other, the surrounding people noticed their idol was locking eyes with another man, and although some of them felt some jealousy and hostility at first, when they saw what Adam looked like, those feelings vanished away.

Some of them had recognized him as Valiant Heart, since his appearance in game was identical to his real appearance. But even those who didn't recognize him, they got scared by his build.

Since Adam had broken through to the Bronze Realm earlier, he had gotten a little skinnier, but that was only his muscles becoming more compact. Despite this transformation, he still looked like a tank.

This weird atmosphere continued for a few seconds before Adam looked away and started walking toward his friends, who had heard the commotion too. Their shocked faces as they stared at East Wind made him chuckle, had it been anyone else, like the people surrounding him, he would have found them dumb, but those were his friends, and to him, their faces right now was priceless.