------Charlotte's POV------
"Make sure to finish what I have given you before Monday. I don't want to hear any excuses since the due date has already been a week. And I especially don't want anyone here private messaging me in New World to join their party."
"Yes."
"With that being said, you're dismissed."
I checked my phone for the time first before fixing up my things. Seeing that our professor took much longer to dismissed us, I immediately left the campus to meet up with Aria. We have planned to go shopping to begin the start of spring.
The passing crowd are buzzier than usual today since it was the beginning of a long weekend because tomorrow, our school has an event which little only is needed to participate. Joining them to prepare for tomorrow's event is a choice, but like many people who are leaving right now, I choose to spend my time doing non-college stuff.
Excitement was clearly in the air right now for they will be gathering later inside New World. People who have not bought an ETHER LINK and created their account right now is just a myth of the past. Everyone from students to our principal, evidence of them enjoying the game has been clear for the past month.
Some people have become campus celebrities overnight due to the strength of their character inside the game. The guild which has been established by the son of our school director has already become the biggest club after it was just created. But none of it is my business now since I have not shared anything about Cherry Winter besides my close friends.
It did not take long before I was already at the meeting place. As I expected, she was already there. A woman leaning on the white wall who keeps attracting gaze every time someone walk by her, was waiting with her phone in hand. Her long silky ebony hair shows how much she takes care of herself despite what she was currently wearing.
Although despite all of that, her characteristics make her appear more like a pretty boy with long hair rather than a beautiful woman. If not for the boyish clothes and posture she was doing, many will probably hit on her right now.
This is my long time best friend which I have made my plans for today.
"Professor Wright was your last prof today?"
"Yea. Earlier or on time dismissal is rarer than an Epic grade equipment for him. How about Michelle? Will she able to join us later?"
"She has not messaged me yet. So I guess we're going ahead."
We are now headed towards the mall by bus which is almost empty at this time of the day even when a bunch of students just left the campus. That is why reaching the destination did not take long.
Hungry as we arrived, we ate at one of the fancier restaurants that can be found inside this mall. It was a bit a bit pricey, but Aria said that she will be the one treating for this meal. This might be the most surprising thing I have heard today.
"Are we celebrating today? Not only did you invite first to go shopping, but you're treating in this place."
"You can say that. I hit a jackpot yesterday when an Epic accessory have dropped during one of my solo hunts. Too bad you went offline early."
"It was already midnight. I can't believe you still went out when there is class early in the morning the next day. Maybe you were already planning it since you're absent again."
"I just got carried away especially when the good items start dropping."
Our food was immediately served as soon as we found a place to sit. We took the seat near the window since Aria said it was easier for Michelle to see us if she decided to show up now. She told us she will be joining us when we made this plan. That was two days ago, but she has not yet message either of us today.
"She has not been logging in New World recently. When was it, two days ago since she begun being late in joining our party?"
"Maybe she's seeing someone."
"Lol. That's the last thing I can think of. I mean she's beautiful. But her meeting strangers in real life. It may be the most painful thing I can imagine seeing."
"Yea, it's just impossible for her…"
Nothing beats drawing up weird conclusions on our friend who is late. This has been our topic of interest while we enjoy the delicious food in front of us. I also have not forgotten to order their Strawberry Parfait which is famous in this place. Taking advantage of Aria's goodness, I asked for two.
While we were relishing our time, I cannot help but notice the advertisement being played on the screen on the other side of the mirror. It was an ad for a beauty product target at young adults like us. The product itself is not special, however it was the model of the product that caught my interest.
"What are you looking at, Cherry?"
"Isn't it weird for a game character to be introducing a whitening lotion for real people."
"Hm? Ah, it's another advertisement with Mystic Xiye. She is really beautiful for a New World character. It should be impossible to drastically change your appearance from real life, so maybe the player behind is also that beautiful."
"How convenient to be a A-list celebrity without showing your face to the public. I bet she doesn't even have any skills related to being a celebrity. All she knows is how to kill monsters fast and efficiently."
"That's how it is. New World has become what ETHER was promoting it at first, human's second life."
It has not aged three months, yet New World has already taken over almost anything related to entertainment business. From movies to advertisements, it was either the top Rankers having their image or simply using the beauty of the game as its selling point. This has been only possible because the interest among the masses on the game is still steadily growing up to this point. And there were no signs of stopping anytime soon.
Our guild has also experienced this boom in popularity first-hand.
Once, we were requested by a bunch of random players who they introduce themselves as a journalists of a website that focuses on topic relating to New World. The reason they have come to us was because they want the three queens of the No.3 guild in Twilight City. Not to brag, but their compliments was flattering.
Although no matter how much we wanted to answer some of their questions and even showcase some of our highlights, our Guild Leader, Richest Asian does not say so. His excuse being that it would be pointless to show ourselves if Gold Paradise is only the third strongest guild in Twilight City, not to mention, we weren't even a top 20 in the world ranking.
Of course he got every jeer we can possibly throw at him since it was a good break for us to go to the mainstream and maybe use that to boost our guild position more. However, his words are final, so we cannot do anything with it.
Our slight disdain towards his decision just only gets worse when I browsed my phone. Those video interviews about the strongest guilds have tens of millions of views on each one of them even the weakest among the interviewed. I do not really understand why he did not give us the opportunity to do it so.
It has been already an hour since we were done eating, and Michelle was still nowhere to be seen. Thankfully, she finally messaged Aria that she is already near at our location.
'I wonder where she was considering how I have not seen her anywhere in the campus a while ago.'
"Where do you want to go first, Aria?"
"I want to check things first in the furniture shop since my true purpose for coming here is I to look for things I can find to refurbish our new flat."
"Ah, I did remember you telling me you have moved to a better place."
"It's just within the city centre just a kilometre away from the park."
"Wow! Isn't that expensive? I guess there's really a reason why you have become so generous lately."
"hehehe~ It does not stop there. I'm also planning to buy a family car soon when we are successful in the upcoming Territorial War."
I cannot help but be happy while she was cheerfully sharing what she has been doing with the money she is earning through playing the game. It might seem impossible yet because Richest Asian has led our guild to greatness, big bucks easily came to us. Mostly on the high level and high grade items we sold on the market.
The strong flourish not only in the game, but also in real life. Aria has really improved her life because of New World.