Gaming Cafe In The Medieval Era

The three of them greeted the owner and entered the store. They were still green-eyed about this so-called cafe.

A soundless whisk of ice-cold, fresh air blew past them as soon as they entered the cafe. They were dumbstruck, thinking where such wind would come from inside a closed shop. As they looked up and down at the cafe's interior, they noticed that the furniture was of first-rate quality! They even observed a lot of charmingly painted clear-cut glass panels.

Regardless of their wealth, none of them has ever seen or felt this kind of extravagance!

Since it seemed like they were in la-la-land, Hwang Lee snapped his fingers to wake them up. Otherwise, these fatties would waste the whole day standing. They soon came back to their senses. They were all amazed by the cafe.

"Boss, what does your shop sell?" one of the fatties asked.

They were champing at the bit to know what kind of luxurious products this small cafe would offer.

Upon hearing this, Lee took a seat on his couch and pointed at one of the computers. "Take a look at this. This is what we call a computer. For now, you can play a game on this, called [Monster Hunter: World]. It costs 50 gold to activate it and 10 gold per hour to play it."

"A computer? we can play games on it?"

"Games? We're too old to be playing games. Is there anything else it can do??"

They had a point. Despite living in the lap of luxury, the three of them were knowledgable magicians studying at the Royal Institute of Magic and Sorcery. Playing games didn't suit them, so they assumed it would be pound-foolish of their time.

Lee shook his head and started to cop-out everything to them, "If you put on this VR headgear, you will be able to experience being in another universe while your actual body remains here at the store intact,".

"..."

They understood what he said—bit by bit.

Wouldn't that mean they can forget the fear of death and fight in thousands of wars without getting hurt? For a moment, All three of them had sparkly bubbles in their eyes.

The more they heard about it, the more they thought it was simply a scam.

But with how the owner bent on them with crazy claims, they wanted to find out if everything he said was true or not. Besides, if it was a scam, their families would not let the store owner live in peace.

The fatty eventually gave the owner a sum of 300 gold.

(50 x 3= 150 gold: for activation

10 x 5 x 3=150 gold: for five hours of play)

This was a nonsensical amount! They could hear their wallets let out a gut-busting scream in distress. The Fatties had planned on asking for a refund if they were not satisfied—to which Lee replied "Sure thing".

The Three of them put on their VR headsets. Suddenly, their surroundings became dark, and a character-selection screen sprung up in front of them. They were very shocked when they saw this. However, they became as cool as cucumber after confirming they were still safe in the real world—and that this was only a game.

They selected the character that looked most like themselves. They had to choose a starting class now. Since they were students at a magic academy, they naturally decided on the "Mage" class.

It also had the [multiplayer] option, which they seemed to like. So Lee set it up for them, and now, all three of the fatties were in the same lobby. And they started the game.

Soon, the loading screen came, and some massive wordings popped up in front of them.

[MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD]

-Loading: 19%...48%...77%...100%

Wooosh,

After they opened their eyes, they quickly found themselves on board a vast moving ship. A whole slew of people was seen beside them; some had swords and armour, while the rest held wands in hand and wore the stereotypical mage's robe. It was a lively place—filled with everyone's chattering and clanks of hitting the bottle with their betimes comrades.

The three fatties sent back glances to each other—shocked that this was simply a game. They could be sensible of the warmness of the lanterns, get a whiff of wine, and even run their hands across the rough edges of their clothes. It was just like real life! This absolutely knocked them over with a feather. They've never seen anything like this before!

The prologue began in due time. There were believed to be dragons soaring through the heavens, abysmal deep-sea monsters unseen in the waves, and terrestrial giants capable of crushing anything in their path!

As apprentice mages, their pipe dreams were to go out on adventures like this. Who thought this VR headset could practically mirror reality and provide people with this forbearance!

According to the introduction, they are all adventurers pioneering to a newly found continent.

- After a while, the first plot event occurs...

*Bang* *Crackle* *Crackle*

Everyone was caught off guard. At first, it seemed like the ship had met head-on with a massive rock. However, people soon discovered that it was far too shimmering and sharp-cornered to be a rock.

It was actually the scales from the torso of a Kraken! Almost everyone knows this mythological creature. A tidy sum of folk tales and balladry sing praises of the tenacity and strength of this beast. They can emit heart-wrenching screeches and have frightful and menacing looks that will send chills down your spine.

All the adventurers had cold feet, including the three fatties. It's the first time they saw such a colossal creature. They have only studied magic books their entire life, so how could such spineless people survive in front of a mythical being?

*Wham!*

The Kraken's tentacles laid waste to the ship, causing holes and fractures. Water was pouring in at a breackneck pace, and one end of the boat was slanted due to the Kraken's weight, causing all of its passengers to lose footing.

Seeing as it was trying to tear down the ship, the fatties swiftly cast a level-3 levitation spell and ascended into the air. Other than some mages that could fly and a few tough warriors, the passengers at the bottom of the barrel were all killed.

They flew through the cracks and emerged outside the sinking ship, barely a few metres away from the Kraken's massive scalp.

-At the cafe

Mr. Lee was getting an eyeful of his customers playing. When he glanced at the screen, he saw a near-at-hand view of the Kraken's head.

It looked like a pair of adorable small eyes deep-seated like jewels in a heap of excrement. Such an unsightly creature made him nauseous

"That's one ugly motherf*cker," He mumbled.

The fatties were so wrapped-up in the game that they didn't care about the shopkeeper.

- Back inside the game

While staying afloat in the air, they noticed a swarm of wyverns bushwhacking the giant Kraken. Although their efforts were bootless, they were still driving the Kraken away from their stomping grounds. Witnessing this, the fatties realized—in a flash—that there should be land somewhere near, so the three took flight towards the direction the wyverns had come from.

After remaining aloft for a while, the mist gradually played-out, and what they saw astonished them!

There were lush, verdant island chains here and there across rivers and lakes that ventured into a whole new continent.

The name of the continent was gradually laid-out in large font.

[You've arrived at Astera! The main tale will now begin.]

-

---------- Author's notes ----------

The hierarchy of magic spells is like this:

Level 1-3: beginner

Level 4-7: Intermediate

Level 8-10: Expert

The strongest mage in the kingdom of Laventere is only a level-9 sage

A-class mages are witnessed to achieve about level-7 spells. Anyone that can use spells of level 8-10 would have the strength of an S-class adventurer.