"Interesting, truly interesting" Raizen exclaimed with great interest. To Raizen who was last active in an era where computers were not even built, this sort of thing was too novel.
This great Vampire felt childlike excitement for a long time. When was he last excited like this? It was hundreds of years ago.
"I want to play it immediately" Raizen declared. He was very eager to try this VR game as they called it.
"Yes, we can go to a nearby VR cafe to play it" Natasha immediately agreed since she wanted to curry favour with Raizen. Chris didn't have any say in this and could only follow them.
'Why is the girl very normal after being kidnapped and having a near-death experience?' Chris wondered as he looked at Natasha.
Natasha noticing Chris's immediately gave him a threatening stare. Chris immediately shrank back and averted his gaze
'???' he suddenly looked at Raizen in amazement.
'When did this guy suddenly become more muscular? Didn't he have shrivelled skin a few hours ago?' After thinking for a while he gave up since common sense can't be used on someone like Raizen.
Since Natasha was drugged when she first saw Raizen, she didn't properly notice this anomaly.
"Great Immortal, can't you do something about this messy beard of yours?" Chris asked. Raizen looked even worse than a vagabond with that beard and long hair of his.
"Oh, this? Wait" Raizen touched his beard and it magically vanished. His hair was also shortened a lot. He styled himself based on many strangers he saw on the streets.
Still, people of this Era had many weird and bizarre hairstyles. So he chose a normal look based on what he saw. He had medium-length hair that faded at the sides and short stubble. He looked like a young man in his twenties.
Chris and Natasha now noticed a crescent-shaped black earring on his left ear since his hair didn't hide it now. All in all, he appeared more charming now with his silver hair and mysterious vibe around him.
Even people on the road seemed to notice him rather than the world-class beauty Natasha walking next to him. Even Natasha and Chris got a bit dazed at his appearance.
"So, what is a VR Cafe?" Raizen asked.
"You will see soon" Natasha answered mysteriously. Raizen didn't bother asking again as didn't mind partaking in a little guessing game in his mind.
Soon they reached a VR cafe. It was a fairly large building that gave futuristic vibes. Natasha was glad they reached this play without much commotion since people didn't recognise her as a mask was sufficient to hide her identity.
As soon as they reached the entrance they were greeted by a female receptionist who welcomed them.
She was even extra hospitable to them because of Raizen's appearance. The ordinary among them who was Chris was naturally ignored.
He could do nothing and just suck up. Honestly, why did he even come with them to the VR cafe? He himself probably didn't know.
"We need two capsules for Reverie" Natasha's voice alerted the young receptionist's gaze from Raizen.
"It's three" at this time one more voice was heard. It was naturally Chris.
"Oh yeah, three" Natasha said.
"Oh… welcome sir, '' the receptionist said, very embarrassed. She honestly didn't notice the third guest.
"Can I get your ID?" the receptionist asked. Natasha scanned her watch and a beep was heard.
Raizen looked at the little device in Natasha's hand with interest. He already noticed that everyone wore this band around their wrist.
The receptionist's eyes widened after seeing the identity of the masked female in front of her.
"Cr…" before she could exclaim she was shushed by Natasha.
"Do me a favour and don't expose my identity. Also, could you allow this man without his identity?" Natasha asked the receptionist. She guessed Raizen probably didn't have any valid identity he could use.
So she planned to use her influence to bribe the female receptionist. Afraid that the receptionist would decline she made one more offer "I will even give you my autograph if you agreed to this"
"How about a selfie instead?" the receptionist asked, hoping to be declined.
"Deal" Natasha answered without hesitation. Immediately the receptionist opened her quantum watch and took a selfie with Natasha. Natasha even removed her mask for the picture.
"Un can I also get a selfie with you?" the receptionist asked Raizen, blushing a little.
"Okay?" Raizen replied not knowing what selfie meant.
"She wants to take a picture with you" Natasha clarified. The receptionist looked at Natasha weirdly and took a selfie with Raizen. Her friends would die of jealousy if they knew she took a selfie with Crimson Countess and such a handsome man.
Soon Chris also scanned his ID and they were led to Reverie capsules. Due to the insane popularity of Reverie, no other game could compete with it.
So the VR cafe's mostly only had Reverie and no other games. They crossed many rooms with many rows and rows of futuristic capsules laying on the ground with people occupying them.
Due to the high-end technology of these VR capsules, they cost a pretty penny and many people could not afford them.
So VR cafes became immensely popular for such people who could rent them for some time. These cafes usually had food and room services so people could even stay overnight. It was a pretty profitable business.
Raizen looked at everything like a little kid who experienced the world for the first time. Everything looked so foreign and novel to him.
It made him somewhat alienated but also made him immensely excited.
'To think humans improved this much in the short time I slept. How long did I sleep?' Raizen wondered.
"What year is it?" He asked.
"2152" Chris replied without much thought. The receptionist looked at them weirdly but ultimately chose to ignore it. She already noticed that the handsome man acted somewhat weird. She thought it made him cute.
"So around 200 years" Raizen muttered. To think humans developed this much in 200 years. He had just taken a short nap and the human world he knew had changed drastically.
Raizen remembered a human philosopher who once said "Change is the only constant in life"
To a vampire-like him who was basically immortal, the word change held an even deeper meaning.