Chapter 179: Now, I'll Get Serious.
Hugo sat there staring at his controller like it had personally wronged him. His eyes narrowed, and he squeezed the controller so tightly his knuckles turned white.
'Come on, come on, just give me something!' he thought desperately. He wasn't about to let this slip-up happen again.
He had to keep his cool. 'I can do this. I am a gamer. I have the skills... just focus!'
But no matter how hard he tried to concentrate, his hands felt like they were made of jelly.
His fingers fumbled over the buttons, and his focus started to slip away. 'I'm doomed. I'm absolutely doomed,' he realized, his heart sinking.
The match ended.
The scoreboard flashed up on the screen—14-0.
Hugo stared at the controller in his hands like it had betrayed him, squinting at it as though it would suddenly reveal some hidden cheat code that could fix everything.
If looks could kill, that controller would've disintegrated into ashes. Loli, sitting on the couch across from him, was practically in tears from laughing.
It was the kind of laugh that made Hugo's ears burn with shame. "Ha! Did you really think you stood a chance? You're all bark and no bite, Hugo!"
She was holding her stomach from laughing so hard, her voice almost a squeak. "I'm seriously dying here! How are you this bad?!"
Hugo tried to defend himself, but his mouth betrayed him. "I… I'm just warming up! Yeah, I'm warming up, you know? You can't expect a master to be at his peak on the first try, right?"
His words came out so weak, it was like he was begging for mercy.
But Loli was far from merciful. She simply looked at him with a raised eyebrow, her grin still teasing him.
"Warming up? You're so bad, I thought I was playing against a potato. Like, a potato could do better. What's next? Gonna blame lag?"
Hugo's lips twitched as he tried desperately to keep a straight face, but the humiliation was too much.
The score was 14-0 this time. FOURTEEN. He couldn't even deny it. The evidence was plastered right there on the screen for the universe to see.
It was too embarrassing.
'How is this even possible?' he thought, his internal voice screaming louder than his ego. 'I've spent hours gaming before! I'm not some newbie! I used to be a shut-in! I lived for this stuff! But her…'
Hugo's gaze flickered to Loli, who was casually munching on chips, looking like she hadn't even broken a sweat. 'She's a monster! A demon in disguise! No human is this good!'
As she leaned back to prepare for the next game, Hugo's mind went into overdrive.
'What am I gonna do? At this rate, I'm going to lose ALL five matches! That's five-nil! That's a shutout! And if I lose… I'll have to wear a tutu! A TUTU! This can't happen. No way. No how.'
His imagination betrayed him, conjuring an image of himself in a bright pink tutu, spinning in circles like a ballerina while Loli recorded it all on her phone.
He shuddered violently. "Nope. Not happening. Not in this lifetime. I can't afford to have another social death!"
Then, an idea struck him like a lightning bolt. 'The system! I can use credits! I have credits! Why suffer humiliation when I can buy my way out of it?'
His eyes widened with newfound determination as he muttered to himself,
"System, use 1000 credits to unlock the Gaming Mastery skill. Then, use 20 of my Mastery Points to level it up. I'm done playing games with you, Loli. Let's go!"
He didn't even hesitate. He was tired of being humiliated. He'd rather spend his credits than risk losing his dignity.
The moment he confirmed the purchase, a sharp, sudden pain shot through his skull, like a thousand needles stabbing into his brain.
His head throbbed uncontrollably. It was like someone had plugged his brain directly into a gaming supercomputer, downloading all kinds of skills and knowledge straight into his head.
'Ahh! This hurts so much!' Hugo's hands shot up to his temples, as if he could somehow stop the pain by squeezing it away. But it wasn't working.
Loli, noticing his discomfort, raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?" she asked, clearly concerned. "You look like you just went through a mental workout or something."
Hugo gritted his teeth, forcing a grin as best as he could. "Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine. Just… thinking about strategies. Big brain stuff, you know? Really big brain stuff. You wouldn't understand."
"Uh-huh," she said, clearly unconvinced.
As the pain subsided, Hugo felt an overwhelming flood of new memories and instincts. His fingers itched to get back on the controller. He grinned confidently. "Alright, let's do this!"
The next twenty minutes were the most intense gaming session of Hugo's life. His heart pounded like a drum as his new skills clashed with Loli's.
Every move, every goal, every counter was a nail-biter. The room felt like a battlefield, and Hugo's entire body was tense with focus.
Finally, the match ended. The score was 6-6. A draw.
Hugo leaned back, his chest heaving. 'A draw? he thought, stunned. Even after upgrading my gaming mastery to 20 points, I could only barely manage a draw? What kind of gaming god is this girl?!'
Loli was blinking in surprise too, though she recovered quickly. "Not bad," she admitted, her tone carrying a hint of respect.
"I didn't think you'd improve that much in one match. But…" She leaned forward, her eyes glinting with determination. "Now I'll get serious."
Hugo froze, his face draining of color. 'WHAT?! She wasn't serious before?!' His mind reeled as he pictured her going into overdrive and wiping the floor with him again. 'I'm doomed.'
And just like that, the tension shot back up as the next match began.
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