Blasts of air, streaks of light, roars of sound. Shattering fire, dancing lightning. And wherever the two shockwaves collided, no objects would be permitted existence.

It was an extraordinary sight. It seemed unreal...

Of course, it wasn’t real. That was a fact.

But would any of those standing there, watching those two avatars locked in joyous combat, really agree? The spectacle was nothing but an illusion, a mirage created by lines of code. Most people would admit to this readily enough. But, deep down in their hearts, would they really believe it?

The two greatest players on the Asgard Continent were colliding as everyone watched with bated breath.

A Human and a Dragonet.

A Fighter and a Magi-Fencer.

And... There was another, more decisive way to define the difference between them. But we needn’t reveal that just yet.

The boy disarmed the Dragonet, sending his sword flying. But none of those present thought for a moment that this was the end of it. The man called up his menu window, selected “Config” with a well-practiced flick of the wrist, and immediately had an identical sword back in his hand. Its appearance was highly ornamental, but it was a greatsword with incredibly high combat stats. Each one cost 1,200 yen: a rather outrageous price for a tie-in item which had earned antipathy from many players.

“Pretty bourgeois...”

“Nonsense,” the Dragonet replied to the boy’s idle grumbling. “It is true that I have a bit more money than you, but do you have a problem with that?”

The boy shrugged and responded. “Nah, not really.”

“I thought not.” His menu window still open, the man selected “Config” once more, leading him to the game’s microtransaction menu. Without hesitation, he tapped his credit card icon, selected the item he wanted, and selected the amount. Then he entered his PIN. There was a crash.

The sudden influx of new items caused countless consumables to overflow from the Dragonet’s inventory, crashing onto the ground.

In this game, the number of potions in circulation in NPC shops was limited per day, and the classes that could create them with alchemy were similarly limited. But this Dragonet man had simply ordered an overwhelming number of the “Basic Item Pack” microtransaction and, in an instant, summoned up more potions than a single avatar could use in a year.

“Hey, old man, ain’t you gonna use those potions? You shouldn’t waste ’em.”

“Nonsense. I decide what’s waste and what’s not. This mountain of potions is not wasted... Not if I use them to beat you.”

The tension that hung between the two of them had already reached critical levels, like a powder keg waiting for a spark. After more back-and-forth banter than anyone could count, would this match finally be settled?

No one watching knew for sure.

A Dragonet and a Human.

A Magi-Fencer and a Fighter.

And there was one other decisive difference between them.

Namely...

A whale and a hardcore gamer.