Black Online

"Ah... This feels so good."

Fang Raon leaned back against the hard rock-walled edge of the hot springs pool and closed his eyes, letting out a contented sigh.

It was truly bliss.

Especially after today’s very hard journey to the training camp.

"Raon, can you hear me?"

In that moment, he heard a voice coming from the other side of the wall. It was from the women’s side.

Della’s voice.

"Della? Yeah!"

Fang Raon shouted back.

In that moment, he heard some splashing as it sounded like Della had just entered the hot springs.

It made his imagination go slightly wild, but then he shook his head.

"I didn’t have time to properly ask you, but... Is everything alright? Your family isn’t trying something funny with you, right?"

Della asked with a voice of worry from the other side of the wall.

"No, everything is fine. Nothing to worry about."

Fang Raon said.

"Hmm~"

Della’s voice trailed, and it seemed like she didn’t trust his words.

"...Are you alright?"

Fang Raon asked.

Since the morning over at the cottage, he had a feeling that something was off with Della, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Her smile used to be a bright candle flame. Capable of lighting up the darkest of rooms even with just so little.

Now, it seemed dim.

"Yeah..."

Della’s voice sounded hesitant.

And this time around, Fang Raon didn’t believe her and tried remembering every detail of this day to find out what’s going on.

In that moment, he realized that she had a very conflicted look on her face only when looking at him.

’Is it because I am in a relationship with Chaewon now? I don’t really know what’s going on between me and Della.

’I don’t know whether I am thinking too hard into it, but it did feel like there was something deeper going on between us.

’That thing over at the graveyard happened, and... nothing seemed the same ever since.

’I like her. I think she likes me back. But I am with Chaewon now, so... What a troublesome situation, sigh...’

Fang Raon rubbed his temples.

It wasn’t that long ago that he never thought he would get in a relationship, and now he was in one.

But then there was Della, who just made him so confused, and he didn’t know what to do.

"What’re you going to do tonight? Do you want to perhaps play a game of General’s Game with me over at the resting quarters? I brought the gaming console with me."

Della asked.

’...Tonight.’

Realizing something, Fang Raon pulled open his interface and checked the time and noticed that it was about time that he should get going.

"I am sorry, but I got something to do over at real life. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, alright?"

He quickly climbed out of the hot springs, feeling completely rejuvenated, and he started quickly washing him off.

"Oh... Okay..."

Della’s voice sounded disappointed on the other side.

Without even putting the towel on, Fang Raon quickly just marched out of the hot springs, put on his clothes, and went straight to the resting quarters.

The cold night air blew against his drenched hair, causing shivers to run down his spine.

’I hope I don’t get sick. Wait, can the avatars even get sick? I have no clue.’

He shrugged his shoulders, entered the resting quarters, and entered his room.

And then, he pulled open his interface, and pressed on the "Log Out" button, and just like that, he was gone from the virtual world.

...

"Ah!"

Fang Raon woke up in the Virtual Reality Pod, and he quickly opened it and climbed out.

"The game card... game card..."

He went through his desk’s drawer, and then finally, he found the new game card enclosed in a small envelope.

’The new character...’

He thought, and then he walked to the Virtual Reality Pod, and took out his first-ever game card, which was still in prime condition.

’I don’t want this to get damaged or lost, so I need to find a safe place for this.’

He looked around the room, and then he walked to his wardrobe and opened the top drawer and took out a small wooden box to store it in.

Buzz~ Buzz~!

At that moment, his phone went off on the bedside table, and he checked it out and saw that he received a message.

[Anna: Are you ready to play?]

It wasn’t the first message. It was the fifth one. She had been sending a message every five minutes.

It seemed like she had been very impatient as she already wanted to jump into the game with him.

[Fang Raon: Yes, let’s go]

He answered back, and then he put the phone away and slid the new game card into the Virtual Reality Pod’s slot.

He then climbed back inside, pressed a button, and watched as the glass lid closed shut.

The machine started humming.

Fang Raon closed his eyes.

...

Black Online, Tower of the Black, Zero Floor.

In the white world, there was nothing. Just blank emptiness, white land stretching forever, and white sky that never seemed to end.

But then...

Fang Raon appeared suddenly. The pixels formed his outline, and then his clothes, and then his face.

"Zero Floor... I never thought I’d see this place again."

He thought out loud.

[Welcome, Fang Raon]

And at that moment, the familiar notification appeared in front of him, but he quickly just waved it off.

’I don’t have all day with this. I will just quickly decide on my class and get going with the game.’

He thought.

And as soon as the welcoming message was gone, another interface appeared. A light blue glass window.

***

[Name: Fang Raon]

[Class: None]

[Level: 1]

[Next Level: 0%]

[SP: 30]

[Coins: 0]

[Health: 1/1]

[Stamina: 0]

[Attack: 0]

[Defense: 0]

[Speed: 0]

[Vitality: 0]

[Mana: 0]

***

[Please, assign the thirty available stat points to the six stats]

’Last time, I didn’t assign the points right away. I thought about what class I would choose first before making that decision.

’I cannot choose Warrior this time around, so I have to choose either Helper, Tank, Mage, Assassin, or Ranger.

’I know that Anna will choose Tank, as that is her main class, and it makes no sense for her to try another class since she is already so familiar with it.

’She can still choose the same class as her first character because her first character is now dead.

’I cannot choose Warrior because my first character is still alive, so I need to try another class out.

’I would’ve probably chosen Tank if it wasn’t for Anna because that is the class closest to Warrior.

’Maybe Assassin, but... I need to choose a class that I can use to assist Anna during the boss fights.’

Fang Raon rubbed his chin.

It was either Helper, Mage, or Ranger.

’Helper, uh... I know one can be Combat Helper, but it takes a while to find combat-related skill scrolls for Helper.

’Ranger is fine, but I’m not feeling it, so there is only one class that I would like to try out, and it’s Mage.’

Fang Raon thought.

He then finalized his decision and decided on Mage, so that meant that he would finally have to assign points to Mana.

At that moment, he started assigning points to the six attributes, and since he was going the Mage route, it was going to look way different than when he did Warrior.

[Stamina: 0 → 3]

[Attack: 0]

[Defense: 0 → 4]

[Speed: 0 → 3]

[Vitality: 0 → 7]

[Mana: 0 → 13]

"Hmm... Yeah, that should do it."

Fang Raon finalized it, and then another window popped up in front of him, and this time around it was the class selection.

***

[Choose your class!]

[Warrior]

[Mage]

[Tank]

[Ranger]

[Assassin]

[Helper]

***

Since he had already made his decision, he immediately selected Mage as his class, and then the class window disappeared.

[Choose your magic weapon!]

At that moment, another window popped up that he didn’t expect, and three pictures appeared in front of him.

’Right, I forgot this. All Mages can choose what starting weapon they’ll start with. Warriors didn’t have this choice.’

[Wand]

[Magic Staff]

[Magic Grimoire]

’With Wand, it is easier to use the magic. It is basically for complete newbies to help them. Wand also gives the best accuracy out of the three options.

’Magic Staff is also good, as it also gives good accuracy, and it can even be used as a melee weapon.

’The Magic Grimoire is the most famous one. It is the hardest to use, but whenever Mages become skilled enough as Mages, they always start using grimoires.

’Because high-leveled Mages can create their own spells with the help of grimoires, it is extremely helpful!

’I am not familiar with the Mage class, so the Wand or Magic Staff would be better for me, but I know grimoires cost a lot.

’And I don’t mind some difficulty. I will learn to use it.’

Fang Raon came to a decision and chose the Magic Grimoire, and it suddenly appeared in his hand.

It was a normal brown color. Looking quite bland. It didn’t have any uniqueness to it. It was just a basic Magic Grimoire, after all.

[Fireball Skill Acquired!]

[Earth Wall Skill Acquired!]

At that moment, in the Magic Grimoire, two pages were suddenly written in glowing letters, even though those pages were blank just a second ago!

’The starting skills of Mage class...’

He was done in the Zero Floor, and he looked around for an exit, and at that moment, white stairs emerged from the floor.

They went to the white sky.

Fang Raon walked up the stairs, and in no time at all, he reached the sky and opened the door he found there.

And without further ado, he stepped straight through. And as he did, a blinding light enveloped him.