Black Online-Chapter 187: High Level

"This here is Fang Raon, a student of an old friend of mine. He is also participating in the tournament."

Lady Diana said with a smile.

"Fang Raon? I have a similar name. I am Fang Anna. Maybe we are distant relatives."

Anna covered her mouth and giggled.

’What is she doing now?’

Fang Raon wondered.

He didn’t know what kind of games Anna was playing currently, but he wasn’t planning to play it with her.

"Well, how did your first match go?"

Lady Diana asked curiously.

"I won."

Fang Raon replied.

With a smile on her face, Lady Diana clapped her hands happily, as if she were thrilled to hear that.

"That’s very good. I’d like to invite you for lunch. Are you free now? The next round shouldn’t start any time soon."

Before Fang Raon could answer, they heard footsteps approach them, and then they saw Bunny and Sunny come over.

"Grandma Diana, we won."

They said.

"Excellent~ I am planning to have lunch with Lady Anna here, and I’ve just invited Fang Raon to join us. Would you like to join us as well?"

Lady Diana asked the two sisters, and they obviously nodded their heads, as it wasn’t even a question.

"Unfortunately, I have to decline the invite this time around. I want to do some thinking before the next round."

Fang Raon said.

"Ah..."

Lady Diana ah’d, but she understood, so she wasn’t overly disappointed by the rejection.

It was common for players of General’s Game to do some "thinking" to process all the information they discovered in the first round.

To create some plans, strategies, and ideas for the new battlefield that was used for the tournament.

’I want to think of new strategies, so that wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the full truth about the rejection either. I just really don’t want to sit at the same table as Anna right now.’

Fang Raon thought to himself.

"Grandma Diana, out of goodness of her heart, invited you for lunch, and it would be very disrespectful to reject her good-hearted invitation."

Sunny said angrily.

"That’s alright, Sunny. It’s not that serious. I hope you’ll continue walking on the path of victory, and I hope you reach the second day of the tournament."

Lady Diana said with a pretty smile, then she hugged Fang Raon warmly and headed off with Anna, Sunny, and Bunny.

Sunny and Bunny were still throwing not-so-friendly looks at Fang Raon.

As Fang Raon watched him walk away, his vision suddenly turned black—as if he had turned blind again—but then he felt someone’s hands covering his eyes. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"Guess who~"

A voice entered his ear, as if the person were whispering right into his ear, and he chuckled at recognition.

"Della?"

She moved the hands out of the way, and Fang Raon turned around to see her smiling at him with cuteness twinkling in her eyes.

"Congratulations on your victory!"

"Thanks... I didn’t know you were going to be here. I thought you were too busy to come around here."

Fang Raon said with a smile.

"I was here originally for a recruiting mission, and I had other guild master responsibilities, but I was able to get a few hours of free time.

"The Sun Festival is also starting officially tonight, so there is no way that I’ll miss that."

Della said with a smile.

"Mmh."

Fang Raon nodded and then saw Della’s gaze linger in the direction of Lady Diana as she walked away with other girls.

"Your sister is here, huh?"

Della said with a frown.

"...It does seem like it. I shouldn’t be too surprised. This Sun Festival seems to be a big thing over here."

Fang Raon said.

"Hmm~ I also just met with Grandpa, and he also won his first round. I need to be going again, as Miranda is currently spamming messages on the chat window."

Della said with a wry smile.

Fang Raon was able to see Miranda hiding behind the corner, looking to be glaring at them, as they were just wasting time talking.

She and Della had to get going.

"See you later, then."

Fang Raon said with a smile.

"Yup~ If you and my grandpa happen to face each other in the tournament, I must come to watch, as I can’t miss that. Who knows, I might also be cheering for you."

Della said with a giggle.

She then waved her goodbyes and left with Miranda.

’There is still some time. I might as well go and spectate some of the Professional League matches. There are much fewer participants in that league, and the matches are way longer, so I doubt those matches are over yet.’

Fang Raon thought.

...

On the third floor, at the balcony, Lady Diana, Anna, Bunny, and Sunny were seated at a table with parasols providing shade over their heads.

"I hope you enjoy."

A waitress came with a tray of food, placed the plates in front of the four girls, and then smiled before heading out.

"I didn’t expect you, Anna, out of all people, to compete in this tournament of mine. I’ve never heard of you playing the General’s Game before."

Lady Diana said.

She knew about Anna’s reputation, and General’s Game was for people with strategic minds, and they were considered more "nerdy" in a way.

Anna wasn’t actually known for being strategic or nerdy in any way.

She was a weapon of mass destruction—her class was called Destroyer—she destroyed everything in her way.

Players feared her. The strong respected her. The weak avoided her.

"I just thought it would be fun to try for once. One of my guild members is currently competing in Professional League, so I also came to cheer for him.

"Not to mention that the Sun Festival is starting tonight. So, I thought that participating in this tournament was good to spend some time.

"I’ve usually played General’s Game for fun against Incognito and other members of my guild, so it’s not like I am bad at it."

Anna said with a smile.

"I personally love General’s Game. I also managed to get my granddaughters, Bunny and Sunny, to play it with me."

Lady Diana said with a smile.

When she just started Black Online, she never touched General’s Game in any way, but then Rock, who she was spending time with, was playing it quite regularly.

So, since she wanted to spend some more time with him, she asked him to teach her how to play the game.

Therefore.

They played every day—for hours at times—and Lady Diana actually became a pretty decent player.

She could even participate in the Professional League if she wanted to.

"We haven’t been able to beat Grandma at all."

Bunny and Sunny said.

"Well, I hope the three of us will reach the semifinals and let the best girl win. There is also one person that I would really love to compete against."

Anna said with a giggle.

"Oh, really. Who?"

Lady Diana asked curiously.

"Mmmh, I am not telling you~ That person is a special person to me, and I would really like to see how we measure up against each other."

Anna said with a smile.

...

On the second floor of the Tournament Hall, about thirty-two tables were filled, and it was dead silent.

Referees and spectators silently watched the battles unfold.

"..."

Fang Raon watched from the sidelines—in one battle particularly—it was Incognito versus someone he didn’t recognize.

It was an insane-looking battle with spells and swords clashing in a blur of motion.

The village battlefield also started to look like ruins as the buildings were destroyed one by one.

’It does look like Incognito is winning. He has nine soldiers left, and his opponent only has six soldiers left. However, his opponent has damaged Incognito’s tower more than he has.’

Fang Raon thought.

While it looked like Incognito’s opponent could win by destroying the tower, he was soon surrounded and pushed into an alleyway.

It was a dead end.

Incognito’s soldiers blocked them in, and his Rangers took control of nearby rooftops—then, those Rangers rained arrows on them.

There was nothing his opponent could do.

Actually, his opponent chose three Tanks to be part of his roster, in case he needed some defensive prowess.

However.

Incognito immediately targeted those Tanks at the start of the match and killed all of them—thus completely disabling his opponent’s defensive system.

It was checkmate after that.

[Winner—Incognito!]

Clap~ Clap~ Clap~

"Whew."

Incognito let out a breath of relief as the spectators clapped, and he then shook his opponent’s hand and left for the back room.

Instead of resting, Incognito planned to analyze the game and immediately come up with new strategies.

"The level is high, isn’t it?"

In that moment, Rock walked over to him and said.

"...Very high. I don’t stand a chance against any of them. They think ten... twenty... even thirty moves in advance."

Fang Raon said.

"You’ll get there eventually. You probably have only around 50 hours of game time in General’s Game. These guys have thousands and thousands."

Rock said.

"Mm."

Fang Raon crossed his arms.

He wondered how it would be to go against those in raids with that much experience.

While ordering soldiers in General’s Game and ordering real players were vastly different, the strategy and quick thinking required would be the same.

The players would react slower, and sometimes, they simply wouldn’t do actions that you would like for them to do.