Black Online-Chapter 176 - 16th Floor
A few days later, in the Rose Records mansion.
"And here..."
Rock pointed at something on the General’s Game holographic screen, but Fang Raon wasn’t really paying attention.
He was looking at the window, watching the snow fall in the dark world outside.
"Are you paying any attention, you little shit?"
Rock snapped his fingers to try to get his attention, and his eyebrow twitched, as he hadn’t been ignored so much before.
Especially not during training sessions!
"Sorry... We’ve just been training for nearly ten hours straight, and my head starts to hurt. I can’t keep concentrating."
Fang Raon said with a sigh.
"You don’t have much time to learn anymore. We’ll be heading over to the 6th floor in two days. We only have today and tomorrow to train!"
Rock said.
"Sure, we can train tomorrow... But can we end for today?"
Fang Raon put his hands together and was basically begging to stop for tonight, as his brain was just completely full.
"Oh, you have business elsewhere? What could be so important? I hope it’s not something to do with my granddaughter, you piece of shit!"
Rock gritted his teeth.
"No... Machary asked me to head over to the 16th floor with him. To check it out of curiosity. And I said yes."
Fang Raon said.
"...In this snowstorm?"
Rock looked out of the window.
The snowstorm wasn’t as bad anymore, and it was definitely going to end tonight, just like the Weather Masters predicted.
Tomorrow there should be a clear and sunny sky with a rather low temperature—but still in the negatives, but that was fine.
It was snowing only normal amount now, but because of the snowstorm, the roads were covered in snow.
"Yep."
Fang Raon scratched the back of his head.
It wasn’t actually wise to go out in this weather, but they could cut through quarries and reach the tower pretty quickly.
"...Fine. It is obvious that whatever I teach you will just go through one ear and out of the other, so go ahead."
Rock crossed his arms.
"Thank you."
With a sigh of relief, Fang Raon bowed and headed off.
But once he was gone, Rock just smirked and cracked his knuckles.
"I’ll just make you suffer more during the hellish training camp!"
...
The snow was furiously falling sideways, and through the blizzard, Fang Raon and Machary dragged their feet through the snow.
They were heavily dressed in warm winter clothing, and it helped to shield them mostly, but it was still very hard for them.
"There!"
Machary pointed his lantern towards the distance, and the light carried through the blizzard and illuminated the front steps of the tower.
"Finally..."
Fang Raon walked to the tower and only had to touch the door, and it automatically opened—he didn’t need the Tower Key anymore because he had already cleared the tower.
Also.
They didn’t have to fight the monsters, etc., anymore or walk through the icy hallways to reach the stairs.
When they opened the door, the stairs were right in front of them. Going up to the door. The 16th floor awaited there.
"I hope it’s not another freezing floor. Please have a beach..."
Machary said with a wry smile.
With a chuckle, Fang Raon patted his shoulder, said, "Come on," and they made their way up the stairs.
They pushed open the door and stepped into the light.
...
Splash! Splash! Splash!
In that moment, they heard the sound of water splashing against what seemed like the edge of a pool. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
It was warm.
Fang Raon and Machary felt the warmth before they even opened their eyes because they were wearing such heavy clothing that it was impossible to ignore the change in temperature.
They then opened their eyes.
"Where are we..."
"What?"
They were standing on the deck of an empty boat, surrounded by nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see.
"Damn, it’s hot!"
Machary unequipped his clothes and just stood in a light t-shirt, shorts, and sandals—which he also wore on the 6th floor.
Fang Raon did the same as before the heatwave got to him and looked at the endless stretch of ocean waves.
"This is not what I expected, but you got your wish, it looks like."
Fang Raon said.
"I think I’ve read things about this floor. It is Ocean Floor. There is no land anywhere, only boats and ships, such as this."
Machary said.
He didn’t remember that it was the 16th floor and thought that it was much higher in the tower.
"Really?"
Fang Raon asked.
"I know there is an amazing Safe Zone here. There is a massive ship somewhere that has an entire city on its deck. It’s quite hard to find without a guide, though.
"However, I’ve always liked to visit that place."
Machary said.
"Hehe, I just know a way to find that place."
Fang Raon pulled out the Enchanted Compass, and its needle started pointing towards the southeast.
"Ah right, you had this Enchanted Compass with you. That is extremely useful in here!"
Machary said with a smile.
While he and Fang Raon were still partying with Abigail, Ragnar, and Poppy, he used to use this Enchanted Compass often.
"Do you know how to steer this boat?"
Fang Raon asked with a wry smile.
"I think the controls in these boats are very simple on the 16th floor. Just a steering wheel and lever to control speed."
Machary walked inside the boat’s control room and looked around—it was exactly what he expected to see.
A lever and a steering wheel.
"These boats move with the help of a wooden propeller. It works with magic, so go to the back to the propeller, and pull the rope to start the boat!"
Machary said.
"Okay."
Fang Raon went to the back, found the propeller, and there was a rope attached to it—a knot was tied at the end.
It was a magic knot, so when he pulled the rope with enough strength, magic would flow into the propeller.
The propeller then wouldn’t stop unless Machary pulled the lever all the way down to zero speed.
"I’ll start it now!"
Fang Raon shouted, grabbed the rope with both hands, and pulled it really hard—the knot opened.
SWOOSH!
The magic flowed into the propeller, and it started spinning faster and faster until it was a blur of motion.
"Good!"
Machary shouted, and then he shifted the lever into the first gear, and the boat started moving forward.
"Alright!"
Fang Raon went to him and put the Enchanted Compass right on the desk so Machary could use it as directions.
"It’s evening currently, so hopefully we’ll reach the Safe Zone in a couple of hours."
Fang Raon said.
"Why?"
Machary asked curiously.
"I need to do something after nine."
Fang Raon said.
He was talking about the daily phone call with Chaewon, which he didn’t really want to miss, as he always liked talking with her.
"C’mon dude, we’re two young men in our prime. We should play all night and enjoy the adventures of the youth!"
Machary said.
Fang Raon chuckled and thought about it, and then said.
"Well, I’ll go eat and take a shower around nine. I can log back on after that."
Fang Raon said.
"I’ll do the same then."
Machary said with a smile.
He left Machary to deal with the steering, sat down on the deck, and looked at the vast expanse of water.
"If I do that move... my opponent can do that... and vice versa..."
He was reciting things that Rock taught him today, and he was trying to engrave those things in his mind.
’My brain hurts.’
He thought and rubbed his forehead.
Training General’s Game was basically just training his mind, and in some cases, it was more exhausting than training the body.
The mental exhaustion was real.
...
The hours flew, but since it didn’t look like the two of them were anywhere near the Safe Zone, they decided to log off for now.
They turned off the propeller. Anchored the boat. And then logged out.
For starters, Fang Raon put some food into the microwave, and while it was cooking, he took a quick shower.
Drenched from hair to toes.
When he stepped out of the shower, the food was ready, and he quickly stuffed his mouth with food.
Then, the time struck half ten, and just like clockwork, his phone vibrated as he received a phone call.
With a smile, Fang Raon accepted Chaewon’s FaceTime call, and they talked for a while.
Just the usual—what both of them did during the day—and they were also talking about meeting again soon.
It had been a short while since they met the last time, and honestly, both of them wanted to see each other in the flesh.
Chaewon had become a full-time home caretaker, and so far, it had been going extremely well for her.
She was liked by everyone.
She left it out, but she had also started to play Black Online properly now, and she was slowly learning more about that world.
The call then ended.
"Time to head back..."
Fang Raon climbed inside the Virtual Reality Pod and booted up the game.
It was rare for him to play this late, but even he wanted to see that Safe Zone that Machary mentioned.
