Reincarnated in a video game but I can only cast fireball

"!! WINNER !!

As the last player dissolved into pixels on her screen the words announcing her victory, the screen burst out in bright bold golden words.

Today wasn't particularly exciting. She usually had to solo entire guilds to feel a thrill, but today was different. She wasn't alone, though her partner was basically a walking tutorial compared to her.

"All right, we're done. Can we start the duel now?" 

"Hmmmm. Nope" she responded to the message that popped up on the screen.

"Huh! Why not"

"I'm bored, that took too much out of me"

"You're the one who said you needed to warm up first"

"Well, I guess I overestimated how long I could withstand boredom"

"Come on, please. I'm begging you here"

"Begging huh!" she teased

"Yes"

"Fine" she conceded "but if I win, you'll do something for me"

"Like a favor"

"Not really"

"If I win, you invite me over to your place" A blush crept up her neck as she quickly typed the offer, sending it before she chickened out. Her heart hammered against her ribs.

Silence stretched, punctuated only by the rhythmic hum of the console. Then, "…. Are you serious?" 

"Yeah"

"If I say yes we can start the duel right now" she added after a while.

"Do we have a deal? " she added again when she noticed he wasn't responding.

"Deal" he responded after a while.

She peeked out from under a pillow she had used to cover her face, lighting up in a triumphant grin.

"Now let's get started, I've been practicing a lot of strategies. I'm gonna win this time I know it"

"I'm sure you will" she responded, a smile on her face.

As usual the duel itself was a foregone conclusion, but her upcoming reward made it feel like the best victory she had in a while.

Five years in "Raize the Realms," and Elizabeth, or better yet know as the tyrant of thunder "Valkyrie" to the online world, had seen it all. Global top ten, lucrative sponsorships, the repetitive thrill of victory… it was all starting to get dull, but quitting the game wasn't an option – it paid the bills after all.

Then came him. Daily single-player duels were a dime a dozen for Valkyrie, and sometimes even entire guild raids.

But this one was…persistent. Despite beating him without losing 1hp, despite beating him while limiting and withholding use of spells he'd be back the next day, a single fireball hurtling towards her avatar.

What was surprising was his arsenal of spells, which included a level 99 fireball spell and… That was it.

The fireball spell is a beginner level spell that would still be considered useless in the situation even at level 99 so at first she was put off and a little insulted, why would he only use one spell against her, it's impossible for someone at his level to only know one spell and as such she completely destroyed him the first time they faced off.

But something felt off and after much investigation and a little low level hacking she realized that the player who referred to himself as "PH1R3" was an hacker, it wasn't that shocking since a lot of people tried to hack the game.

However, trying was the operative word and actually doing it was difficult but what was even more shocking was the fact that his hacks didn't strengthen his character, buff spells or that kinda stuff, his hacks disabled his character from gaining any other spells besides fireball.

Multiple things went through her head, was he crazy, what kind of person does this, now that she thought about it too it was rare to see any spell hit the level 99 mark even if it was a beginner spell.

So all he could focus on was the fireball spell, that explains the high level but still the question remained. Why, why would he do that? That's what she asked herself that night.

The next day she received a message from him, apparently he knew she had hacked him. Initially she panicked but instead of reporting or extorting her he just asked for a rematch….. one day of every month.

It was a strange thing to ask for, he could've gotten her kicked out from the global top 10 or asked for money to keep it secret but he didn't further increasing her intrigue in him.

Over time, after duels turned to conversations and laughter something else began to form.

Checking herself in the mirror, Elizabeth brushed a strand of her Aurburn hair to the side. She was dressed in a purple shirt with the fabric cut off from the shoulders and a dark skirt, she had applied some makeup to hide the dark circles under her eyes.

For someone of her "profession" they were a badge of honor but today she wasn't a gamer, she was a girl about to meet someone she might have feelings for.

After a nod in the mirror concerning her appearance she left the room and made her way out of her house and over to the address he gave her, but due to her excitement and rarity of leaving her house she had forgotten that she possessed a terrible sense of direction.

"I'm lost" she told herself as she sat on a bench.

The rhythmic wail of sirens sliced through the air as she contemplated texting him about her current plight, "I don't want him to think I'm an airhead, he gave me an address and I can't even find it" she said with a sigh.

She looked around and watched as the fire truck responsible for the sirens retreated into the distance allowing her to think more clearly.

Standing up she proceeded to spend the time asking around for directions until she came across a woman carrying a flower pot, "petunias".

"Oh! It's not too far" said the woman giving her directions to the place.

"Thank you so much" she replied with a quick bow before turning around to leave.

"Just be careful, I heard that was an accident"

"Accident" she asked getting worried

"Yes! The building caught on fire, luckily no one is usually in by now"

Her blood ran cold, turning around she bolted down the street.

"Thank you again" she said as she ran as fast as she could.

When she got to the address she was short of breath and the heat coming from the burning building in front of her didn't help either.

Her heart kept beating faster as she looked at the people gathered around the scene hoping to at least spot him, she didn't.

"They said it was a gas leak" said a random person as she easedrooped.

"Yeah! Thankfully, no one was inside"

At the mention of that she began to calm down and was about to leave to continue searching for him.

"Didn't you hear"

"Hear what?"

"Apparently, someone was inside the building. Some kid, he wasn't even 18 yet"

As she heard that the anxiety increased as she could hear her own heartbeat in her chest. Slowly she removed her phone from her pocket deciding to send him a text but as she did she saw a message from him.

"Gonna take a nap, text me when you get here"

"I'm waiting"

A single tear escaped, tracing a hot path down her cheek.

"He wasn't online that night and he never was again"