The Mysterious Black Magician

When Yman arrived at the Inn, his latest model MTMD made a tone. It was a dry and normal tone to notify the owner of the new mail.

He sat on the edge of the bed and quickly opened the device. He could guess who the sender was. 

If not Bob and the others, it was either his Sister or Miss Pai. At first, when he log-in to his old account in this new model MTMD, a flood of messages almost caused his device to overheat. Most of them were from his Sister, Miss Pai, and weirdly, from the anonymous person!

The anonymous was asking about his location and what happened to him. But Yman disregarded it. As long as he didn't know the real identity of the person, he could not disclose his whereabouts.

He decided to call his sister as he was sure that she was worried about him by now. They had a heartfelt conversation later on.. After all, there were only two of them as a family in this world. He learned that her health did not get any better. She also said to him to come back as she was worried for him. Yman just smiled and went silent. He could not say yes as he wanted to bring the medicine with him when he decided to come back.

Next, he asked Yana to pass the device to Miss Pai. He wanted to ask about the academy.

The news that Miss Pai filled him had surprised him. She said that the city was now developing. All was because of him!? And the others. He was puzzled as to why he was one of the causes. Miss Pai then told him everything he needed to know.

Yman gawked upon hearing him. Never would he have thought that he was one of the people who would get a percentage of income in the dungeon.

Put aside the latest talk he had with them, the current mail was as expected, it was from Anonymous! The message said:

[_/]Anonymous:

[Hi! Sorry for disturbing you again. Uhm… I guess you are quite busy today… Uhm… (Thinking Emoji)... The truth is… I successfully advanced to a higher level! (Cheer Emoji) Sorry for babbling nonsense and sorry for taking up spaces of your device with this random message of mine… uhm… (Shy Emoji) (Shy emoji) actually, the coming days will be the start of the inside competition in the academy… I'm just hoping that perhaps, you could at least watch the event. See ya! (Doki Doki Emoji)]

"....."

Yman was dumbfounded at the message. Who could it be? He asked in mind. A secret admirer? He shook his head. That was impossible. He thought.

Regardless, the anonymous talked about the inside competition of the academy. 'Could it be what this person meant was the competition in Zone 7?' He was guessing.

And why does this person like putting emojis in his/her message?

Anyway, the competition in the academy of zone 7 will also start in the coming days. I needed to return then.

But before that, there was also the summon from the empress of Encantasia. Based on the letter on the parchment, the exact date was the third day to come.

"....."

Looked like he would be going to have busy days this week.

After closing his device, he gazed through the window. It was still early in the morning. Some people would pass by as they hurriedly flew away.

Sigh.

He let a sigh escape from his mouth. Then focused his attention and transmitted on his scouts that were currently scouting on Rea.

One of them was parking on the branch of the tree, in front of the window of the student council room. The other one was crawling on the ceiling.

He saw Rea talking cheerfully with the student council president and her beautiful cousin.

From time to time, Rea would send glances in the direction of his scouts. Maybe she was anxious? Or maybe not. He could not read her thoughts, so don't expect him to know!

Sigh.

After letting another sigh, <Partner, why are you sighing more often this day?> He suddenly heard his Deity's question. She was currently sitting on the bed beside him.

"Nothing-- ugh!"

Just the only word came out of his mouth.

Yman held his head. For some reason, he suddenly felt a little dizzy. He wondered why it happened, maybe he was just tired.

Sistela glanced at him 

<Are you okay?>

"Ha? Uh… Yeah!" 

Yman shook his head to clear his vision. Sistela on the other hand, tilted her head.

When his vision was back to normal again, he took the 5d-Seer device in his pocket and positioned himself, lying on the bed.

"My deity, please take care of me," he said and smiled at her.

<Don't worry, partner. Not even a mosquito can come close to you!> Sistela assured him as she flew on top of his chest.

He then clicked the 5d-Seer device. Then a rectangular screen appeared in front of his face. 

Inside the screen, he could see the menus. He went to check his Ranker status.

Ranker Name: Crimson Agila

Ranker Codename: The Mysterious

Ranker level: 0

Ranker Point/s: 100

Win: 0

Lost: 0

Total Fights: 0

Winning rate: 0%

Ranker's Main Department: Little Garden Department of Alchemy.

Department rank: unranked

"....."

Yman swiped the screen and went to the menu where he could search for available opponents. He tapped the <Search> option. After tapping it, the screen was changed to a loading interface.

<Searching for opponent...>

After a couple of seconds, a list of available opponents appeared. 

1- Level 1 Ranker Mr. Joker

2- Level 1 Ranker Grimlord

3- Level 5 Ranker Ilovehentai

4- Level 2 Ranker Slayer

5- Level 3  Ranker Magical Girl

6- Level 2  Ranker Yamete

7- Level 1  Ranker Kudasai

8- Level 0 Ranker Special Girl

9- Level 2 Ranker Abyssal Lord

10- Level 1 Ranker Midnight

…

About hundreds of Ranker code names appeared orderly together with their levels.

Yman just had to choose one of them to execute a duel invitation.

He pondered for a moment but for some reason, the other code name was just too weird. Looked like these people tolerated it as something like a video game.

Yman tapped on the Ranker in number one. The name was Ranker Mr. Joker with the level of 1 as a Ranker. Probably a newbie Ranker like him.

After tapping it, the additional information had appeared.

Yman read the status of Mr. Joker.

Ranker Name: XXXXX (For privacy!)

Ranker Codename: Mr. Joker

Ranker level: 1

Ranker Point/s: 150

Win: 1

Lost: 0

Total Fights: 1

Winning rate: 100%

Ranker's Main Department: The Chaotic Department of Knight and Magic.

Department rank: unranked

'I see, so the real name wasn't shown for the Ranker's privacy. Well, not all would want to reveal their identity. Some choose to remain mysterious. Anyway, this person was able to win in his first fight. He must be a strong Ranker," Yman pondered.

In the end, he tapped the Ranker with the name Special Girl as they were both Level 0.

<Choose Level 0 Ranker Special Girl as an opponent?>

<Proceed> <Cancel>

He tapped the <Proceed> choices. Then it required him to choose the place of battle. Many choices appeared and there were even <Random> choices. But Yman chose the Plain Field as the place of their duel. It was followed by another pop-up.

<Send duel invitation to Ranker Special Girl?>

<Confirm> <Cancel>

Yman chose the choices <Confirm> then it was followed by a loading interface.

<Waiting for Ranker Special girl to accept the challenge.>

Around this time, inside Almina's room, she was burrowing her face in the pillow. She just sent a notification to Yman. Although many of her mail had no reply yet, she was still sending mail to him without expecting a reply.

Her Deity Cal was shaking his head. Looks like his owner still could not forget that person.

Back in the inn, inside Yman's room. A pop-up notification finally appeared.

<Challenge Accepted!>

<Dive In> <Abort>

He immediately tapped the <Dive In> choices.

After tapping it, Yman felt that his consciousness was being sucked by a strange wave of pressure. 

He found himself standing in the middle of the Plain Field. He scanned around and saw nothing but only Plain Fields!

Even though it was stated in the FAQ section, he was still surprised to see himself in this field known as Virtual Arena.

He scanned himself. At the moment, he was garbed in a brown sleeveless shirt. Just looking at it, he could tell that he looked like a commoner! Even his pants were of cheap fabric. His shoes weren't even for combat. It looked like the cheapest shoes that the poorest person could afford to buy in this era.

He scanned again, but anything aside from those things, there was nothing more.

He looked like an ignorant kid as he was scanning himself. But he was unaware of it as he was overwhelmed by surprise.

Without him knowing, he was the subject of mockery inside the Citadel.

"Fufu, look at that person! He looked like someone who had just been born," Pointed the Encan person.

"Haha, as expected of a newbie!"

"So hilarious! Haha!"

But their laughs were unheard of-- by him.

A moment later, the enemy finally materialized in front of him.