First Dragon Hunter: My Black Sun Can Absorb Everything-Chapter 38: Energy Control

How an Awakened controlled their energy was important not only for passing the test at the Thornspire, but also for battles and daily tasks.

In some ways, it was similar to muscles, but in a more flexible form. If an Awakened could not lift an object because it was too heavy, then by directing energy to the muscles of the back, legs, and arms, they would most likely be able to do so. The same applied to jumping height and sudden leaps.

Energy Control was useful in all aspects, allowing them to conserve strength by using energy more efficiently and doing things that were previously impossible.

The effectiveness of Energy Control depended heavily on the situation in which the Awakened found themselves. If they were faced with a long task, such as clearing debris in a tunnel, one boulder after another that was too heavy for ordinary people, then the most important thing was energy management and the rate at which it was spent. Two of the four aspects are evaluated during the test for beginners.

Such an Awakened, when using Energy Control correctly, will deal with this task faster and expend less energy than an Awakened who does not know how to use Energy Control at a good level.

But what if rapid, explosive power was needed?

Then, the most important factors were firepower and total energy. Oddly enough, for this task, rapid energy consumption was more of an advantage than a disadvantage. It allowed the user to unleash all available power as quickly as possible, like bullets from a machine gun rather than a regular rifle.

Thus, Garet’s test results at the Evaluation Crystal were ideal for releasing explosive power in a single pulse through Energy Control.

That’s exactly what happened.

BAM!

Under the shocked gaze of the audience and the cracked table, the girl announced the winner.

"Good."

The lean man nodded deeply and approached her, patting Garet on the shoulder on the way.

"I would like to receive my reward."

The girl looked at the chart and gulped.

"S-Sure... Just give me a moment, I need to exchange my coins."

"No problem."

When duels took place in arenas in front of hundreds of spectators, everyone couldn’t bet on only one fighter, but in a tavern late at night with just over a dozen spectators, it was entirely possible.

The others exchanged glances, awkwardly scratching their necks. No one tried to challenge the decision, because everyone had seen the outcome of the fight.

The only one who remained silent was Ragon. He slowly raised his hand, looking at his bleeding knuckles and the dent in the iron plate. Obviously, this had never happened to him before.

He clenched his hand several times, and then...

"Hahahahah! Now that’s what I call a round!" Ragon laughed with all his might. "Have you been hiding your true power all this time?"

However, noticing Garet’s exhausted look, Ragon immediately understood what was going on.

"Oh, I see, so you’re one of those who strike rarely but hard, aren’t you? Yeah, sitting down at the table against you was my mistake." He flexed his arm to restore blood flow.

After a few deep breaths, Garet leaned back in his chair and smiled as he looked at the lone lamp illuminating their table.

He liked that.

The taste of victory over another Awakened, even if it was in arm wrestling, was almost as sweet as the Spiky Moon Fruit, or even surpassed it.

"I’m coming!"

The girl exclaimed as she ran up to the lean man with a pouch of coins.

"You bet 200 coins, everyone else bet on Ragon’s victory, for a total of 1,130 coins bet on Ragon. So..." She opened the pouch, revealing a handful of coins. "This is all yours now."

The lean man nodded deeply and threw two two-streak coins on the table in front of Adam, as well as three one-streak coins to Ragon.

"Agh?" Garet was puzzled.

He looked at Garet as he headed for the exit.

"You won my bet, so consider this your share. What about you?" He glanced at Ragon. "Consider this a bonus for your stupidity. It was obvious to any slightly experienced Awakened that this guy was the blast type."

Despite the mysterious man’s words, Ragon didn’t get angry. Instead, he looked at the three coins and shouted toward the bar:

"Beer! For me and this strong guy! Hahaha!"

Marra didn’t keep them waiting long, and within a minute, two full mugs stood before them.

"Here, just don’t try to play another round. Even all your winnings won’t be enough to pay for this table." She giggled, winked at Garet, and returned to the bar.

"You know, Ragon, I thought you’d get angry and even think I cheated," Garet said, taking his mug.

Ragon shook his head.

"Nah, I’m actually glad you won. It means I have something to work on, right? Also, no matter what you do, nothing is interesting about always winning. You’ll understand that in time. Although if I had made a big bet, I would have gotten angry for sure."

He looked at the crowd, at their spectators, who had all lost their money betting on Ragon.

"Isn’t that right, guys?"

One of them frowned and waved his hand.

"Tsk, shut up! As soon as I decided to bet more, you lost!"

"Yeah, the same thing happened to me."

"I’m always so unlucky!"

Gradually, the crowd dispersed amid discontented grumbling.

"Pffft, they’re just fools!" Ragon snorted before taking a deep sip.

Garet looked at them, then at Ragon. "But, you can understand them."

"Of course, but no one forced them to bet all three rounds on me and go all in. They could have bet, say, 100 coins each time and still come out ahead in the end. However, those idiots raised the stakes each time, hoping their luck would last forever."

"Hmm, I didn’t even think of that. That’s clever." Garet nodded and took his first sip of beer.

His face contorted.

"Kha! Why is it bitter?!" Garet exclaimed, wiping his mouth.

"Hahaha! Because it’s good, expensive beer! Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it in time."

Their conversation continued as suddenly, Garet’s opponent turned out to be a rather pleasant conversationalist who didn’t mind teaching him a thing or two.

He looked at his coins and the card from Franz and nodded weakly.

He needed to go to the Purple Lantern and wait out the night, because tomorrow a new job awaited him.

Not just him, fortunately or not.