When Kale was observing the hotel, Layla jumped out of the car in a not-so-lady-like style and threw the keys at the worker on the side.
The worker caught the keys, and went into the car, driving it to the parking side.
"It isn't bad," Layla said while observing the building.
Kale nodded then extended his right hand.
Layla looked at his hand then at his face, with a confused expression on her face "What do you want?"
Kale had a headache, he had no intention to strain his brain in explaining how to enter as a lady, he let the worker check his name in the invited list and ID, then he grabbed her hand and walked inside the hotel.
The hotel was just as luxurious on the inside as it was on the outside. It was a large reception, the warble floor was shining enough to reflect their image like a mirror, waiters in white-red and maids in black-white uniform were attending to the guests that had just walked in.
Kale picked up a glass juice from the tray of a waiter passing by and took a sip 'At least two fresh Uncommon-Grade fruits had been used in preparing it, looks like they are not just some money grabbers and focuses on the reputation,'
"Arcade or Casino?" Kale asked Layla.
Layla raised her eyebrow, normally there was an age restriction on places like casinos, here it was different but going to such an area just after entering the hotel for a party wasn't a good thing, was it? But she didn't choose to think twice before replying "Arcade,"
Kale nodded, and Layla showed the way.
The arcades here weren't the same arcades on earth where teenagers would go to play video games, it had games but on a completely different level, if it needs to be summarized in most simple words then it would be Virtual Tech, one of the most popular game in such an arcade was Virtual Arena.
Arcade was on the second underground floor of the hotel, the duo used the lift and arrived at the arcade floor.
The inner side of the arcade was like the open area of a shopping mall, several virtual diving pods were arranged on the left side while the rest of the places all had a different kind of devices, that Kale didn't even know of, they all had their specialty, the players could either play against an opponent or computer.
In case they play against a real opponent, the players could place bets, the bets can be of anything, but most of the time they use real money.
There were several large monitor screens on the walls and pillars of the hall, they were for showing the heated battles.
Because of most people enjoying the party, there weren't many people here in the arcade today, as a result, many pods were free to use.
Kale was looking around when a sight caught his eyes, he saw an ongoing battle on a screen, on the right was a robust man clad in black armor while on the other hand was a little girl with a long staff in her hands, her two long ponytails fluttered in the air as she swiftly retreated while casting spells.
She was Timtim, but this wasn't what caught his attention, from the user name and the pod number, he checked both the players, he had realized that Timtim's avatar had the same appearance as her but the robust man clad in black armor fighting in the virtual arena was actually just a teenage boy.
"Tell me something, can we also change our age and the body structure of our avatar just like the appearance? If so, how can that boy who is used to his child-like body control the body of an adult?" Kale asked in a faintly excited tone, he already got an idea, he just wanted to confirm.
His knowledge about arcades and the games inside was limited, he preferred to brose more about plants on the internet than virtual tech.
Kale only knew, that in arcades, more precisely in the virtual arena, one could control their avatar like their real body. They can even use the spells or martial arts they had learned in real life, or something that they had never learned.
But the feeling would be very real, one could decide the realism rate or sense of pain in settings, with the maximum limit of 95%.
That's why if we go by this logic and that boy is really controlling the avatar of that robust man by himself then he had either practiced for a long time or he may have been a reincarnate just like him... Which was clearly impossible!
"It's obviously because of the AI, that guy probably decreased the realism rate below 50% and switched on AI assistance, although one can't make a bet if they switch on AI assistance but they just seemed to be playing for fun," Layla said, she thought about his amnesia and continued "While we are at it, let me tell you more some of which you may have already forgotten without realizing it, when you use that virtual pod and is designing your character, both you and your opponent would be given a fixed number of points to make adjustments.
The adjustment excludes the things that you have already learned in real life because you can use them without making changes, it is also possible to exclude the points adding system and fight with just your real abilities.
But there are exceptions too. For example, I'm a Beast Tamer, so I will get free points in both cases, only the amount will change, the reason being that I would need those points to get my Battle Beast from the shop, of course, to make it fair, the points I would receive would be based on my opponent's class attainment and level,"
When she finished speaking, she noticed that Kale's lips were curled up into a smile, he was looking at an empty pod.
Layla was surprised, she knew that Kale shows very few emotions, his chuckle was the biggest smile she had seen until now, although she didn't know what made him so happy but she felt gratified because of that.
Kale was happy because this was a chance, a chance for him to experience the trace of the glory of his peak form of the body again, moreover he could even check which type of body built will suit his Mutant Martial Mage class in the future.
"Let's have a match," Kale said, he walked up ahead and told the man working in the arcade to get the stuff ready, his savings were enough to pay for the game but as expected, Layla paid instead. This was the advantage of having rich and wild beauty like her around.
He put on the helmet like equipment and sat in the pot, within a few seconds he felt sleepy and went into a half-sleep like state, when he opened his eyes again, he was standing in a white room with a holographic window appearing in front of him.
Kale started adjusting the settings, he set everything manually, realism and pain sensitivity was set to maximum, the username was set to Anonymous. As for character customization, Kale spent all his points in this aspect, he didn't even bother buying new spells or equipment from the shop, his points were targeted fully on making the avatar as similar as his previous self.
After the setting was completed, he disappeared from his place and appeared into a large rectangular open ground in the middle of a forest.
From the direction of the sun, it was the time of dawn, a cool wind was blowing around in the vicinity.
Layla was standing on the other side of the ground, her appearance was the same but her clothes were slightly different she was wearing a long coat that seemed to be made of an adult lion's' skin, her hood was like the lion's head.
A pendant made of beastly canines was hanging around her neck, she was playing with a bone bagger in her hand as she observed Kale in front of her.
His appearance had surprised her. She was seeing a mature man at his peak age standing in front of her, he had long black hair tied into a ponytail, cold eerie black eyes, and a pointed nose, all coupled with a muscular body that was trained to the limit.
Kale had spent almost all his points on the body customization, he didn't even buy any weapon, and in the name of clothes, he was just wearing ragged pants which was the cheapest clothing in the shop.
Layla's lips twitched.
She had a feeling that she should be grateful to him for at least buying that ragged pants.
Kale didn't mind her weird gaze and focused on feeling his body, he stretched out his arms, and started to hop in a rhythm 'Not bad, the virtual tech is not the specialty of Blazing Sun Kingdom, I didn't expect much when I knew that they had just exchanged it for some biotech but it looked like I was wrong,'
"Let's start," Kale said while stretching his neck.
"Hehe... You sure are in a hurry," Layla snapped her fingers and three Black Hounds appeared around her.
Blood Hounds were similar to black Doberman dogs in terms of appearance, the main difference being that they were born with a bone armour around their body that grows with them. The bone armour made them look like, they were wearing a creatures' skull as a helmet, its ribcage as back support, and its other bones and knee and claw supporters.
After they both agreed to start the match, a countdown started in front of their eyes, when the countdown finished Kale dashed at her.
Layla had seen him fight the most compared to others in the Academy, she was familiar with his battle tactics that's why she chose Block Hounds of all the beast she could buy, Block Hounds had high defense moreover they had a savage nature in their blood, the more injuries they receive the ruthless they become, that's why when people hunt them they prefer to kill them as soon as possible because if they don't do it, as the battle progresses, these Blood Hound would lose their sense of pain and can even fight to the death in the fit of rage.
When enraged, even skilled Beast Tamer loose control of Blood Hounds and if they try to force it, those Blood Hounds can even attack their master in their raged state, there were many such cases in which Blood Hounds killed their master themselves but here was Virtual World so even if they turn back and attack her, Layla won't receive any injury in real life.
Layla manipulated the three hounds to attack Kale, all three of them reacted and dashed at their incoming enemy.
Kale smiled, he changed his movement pattern and dodged the first two hounds from a hair's length, he effortlessly jumped above the third one like he was trying to do a front flip.
When he was in the air, upside down above the hound, Kale reached out his hands and grabbed on to the rib cage armour on its back, as he landed on the ground, he used the momentum to lift and slam the hound on the ground after making an arc in the air.
..Boom...
The hound was slammed on the ground with his head tacking all the impact, it went into a dizzy state, if it wasn't for the bone helmet and Kale's life level being at the same level as Layla, the hound would have lost its head. While the hound was still dizzy, Kale kept advancing towards Layla.
Layla was shocked, the battle tactics he was using were not only completely different from before but were also very effective.
Kale couldn't do these things with his child-like body, if he had tried to attack the hound, in the same way, using that body then he would be just courting death.
She readied her dagger and faced him head-on, Layla was sure that she had to only buy a few seconds for the other two hounds to come back and the last one to snap out of its dizzy state.
She thought that she could hold him back for a few seconds but just after the first swing of her dagger, Kale decided the outcome of the battle, he closed the distance between them, dodged to the left, and punched her into the stomach.
There was no hesitation in his eyes, his first punch was followed by the second one then the third at a lightning pace, by the time he took control of his fighting intent, Layla's HP was already dropped to half and she was thrown back.
Layla fell back on the ground and groaned in pain, traces of blood were visible at the corners of her lips.