Black Online-Chapter 144: High Talent

"Kekeke... Kakakaka... Hihihihi!"

Hiroto laughed creepily.

He looked crazy happy when looking at the fireball hovering over his hand—it was like a dream had come true for him.

What Fang Raon didn’t know was that this was Hiroto’s first time playing the game—well, second time—the first time was during the first round.

He’d been wanting to play Black Online for so long already, but his parents didn’t want him to, because they wanted him to focus on school and studies.

They wanted him to become a doctor, lawyer, or engineer—they believed that the games were a complete waste of time.

Hiroto was an extremely imaginative young man. Reading was his escape from reality. And he loved reading fantasy novels.

The idea of being a wizard that could do magic and go on adventures in far-off lands fascinated him.

And he wanted to experience that. Black Online was the closest thing to that.

Since he couldn’t purchase one, as he was a poor student, and his parents wouldn’t buy one for him, he decided to apply to this tournament.

It didn’t cost him anything to enter this tournament, and instead, he could fulfill his dream of being a wizard!

His parents thought he was currently at cram school.

"This is... Freaking cool!"

Hiroto laughed and summoned over ten fireballs—they were all hovering around him—and with a mad laugh, he hurled them all at Fang Raon.

’This many fireballs? Does he not care about maintaining his mana? He’ll run out if he keeps attacking like this!’

Fang Raon thought with a shock.

However, an attack of over ten fireballs was indeed very strong and could finish off his opponents if they weren’t careful.

There was no need to be careful with mana if you could defeat your opponent in one blow!

"Fireball Storm of the Fire God!"

Hiroto shouted.

It wasn’t an actual skill that he had—he could only use Fireball and Earth Wall—however, he was just roleplaying his dreams.

Fang Raon smashed through the fireballs with his shield, and the forest around him started burning.

’It sure is getting hot here!’

He started sprinting through the flaming forests, charging at Hiroto.

However.

Hiroto was just waving his index finger. As if he were saying, "bad boy, bad boy," like he was just playing around.

"No, no, no. You, mister Warrior, are not going to beat me. I am the Arch Magus, Hiroto Sakai, know your place!"

Hiroto laughed, and then his grimoire glowed.

In that moment, Earth Wall rose in front of Fang Raon, and he slammed straight into it.

"Urgh!"

He almost knocked himself out as his head slammed right into it, and he became quite dazed for a moment.

"Earth Wall! Earth Wall! Earth Wall!"

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

In that moment, to the right, left, and behind Fang Raon, three walls of earth rose from the forest ground.

It completely boxed him in.

’How does he have this much mana?!’

He thought in shock.

In that moment, Hiroto hopped on top of the earth wall, looked down at Fang Raon, and summoned a fireball.

"Any last words? I hope this will act as a reminder to not challenge Arch Magus such as myself, the highest-ranked mage of the Magic Guild!"

Hiroto asked.

’What the hell is he even saying at this point?’

Fang Raon frowned.

"...No words? Very well."

Hiroto pointed the fireball down at him, and it was about to fly, but then Fang Raon suddenly threw his sword at him!

"!!!!!!!"

The sword stabbed through the fireball and into Hiroto’s hand. It went deep into his arm, and the numbing sensation spread throughout his body.

"Ahhhhhhhh!"

Hiroto screamed hoarsely.

There wasn’t actual pain about it, but this was his first time getting "hurt" in the game, and it took him by surprise.

The sight of the sword sticking out of his avatar’s arm was shocking and almost made him vomit.

’I guess the throwing sword exercise did wonders.’

Fang Raon thought with a smile.

Since all of his training required doing the skills without an "activation word," it also made it possible for him to do those skills without the actual skill.

Such as the Throwing Sword skill.

Fang Raon then climbed up the earth wall, pulled the sword out of Hiroto’s arm, and cut him down.

The sword ran through Hiroto’s chest, and the blood gushed out of his wound as he fell to the ground.

"I-Impossible... I am the... Arch Magus..."

With those last words, he disappeared from the game.

’That must be the weirdest experience I’ve ever had in this game. What a strange opponent!’

Fang Raon thought.

At the same moment, his vision also turned black as his consciousness got thrown out of the game.

...

Swoosh!

"Huuh..."

Fang Raon breathed out and stepped out of the Virtual Reality Pod.

There was a small smile playing on his lips, as with this victory, he had officially won some of the prize money.

’In the end, that microphone and computer purchase was free~’

"My arm... My arm..."

Hiroto was crouching on the ground, looking at his arm, and then he noticed that it was alright after all.

’Why is he acting like that, or could it be...’

Fang Raon gulped, and out of curiosity, he asked.

"Hey... Is this your first time experiencing Black Online?"

"Ah...?"

Hiroto looked at him, and then he pushed up his glasses again and nodded.

"Y-yes... I don’t have my own Virtual Reality Pod, so... I wanted to try it out..."

He said.

’What a crazy guy then. This talent is insane. If he wasn’t so shocked about getting ’hurt,’ then he could’ve actually defeated me.

’His skill control is one of the best I’ve seen, and his imagination is especially useful for Mage. The way he used his skills. Give him time and more skills to use...

’I think he could become one of the best mages if he actually started playing.’

Fang Raon thought.

Buzz~ Buzz~

At that moment, Hiroto received a call from his parents, quickly bowed at Fang Raon, and headed off.

"Y-Yes mom...? Y-yes, I’ve finished with cram school... I am heading back home... Yes... Yes..."

Fang Raon watched him leave.

’I hope he starts playing. It would be quite interesting to see how far he’ll get. I wonder why he hasn’t started yet. It is obvious that he likes the game.’

He wondered.

"Ah, you made it through as well."

And just like before, Lock was already outside sitting, as he again managed to finish his match before him.

’Again, he is faster than me? I really don’t think my matches lasted long, but somehow he is capable of also defeating his opponents extremely quickly.’

Fang Raon frowned at the sight of him.