Leon only got to talk with his former opponent for roughly ten minutes. Past that time, everyone's mood suddenly started to turn heavy.

Minute by minute, the cheery atmosphere in the room continued to gradually calm down before everyone sat down separately and tended to their own matters.

'I guess it's the pressure,' Leon thought, glancing at his opponents across the room.

Even though he would only have nine opponents in his part of the tournament, a lot more people ended up waiting in the lounge than just that.

'I guess adventurers start at the same time as us,' Leon observed, slowly adapting to the silent, stressful situation.

Roughly thirty minutes later, Leon noticed that the lights in the room gradually faded away. And he noticed it right when they all suddenly turned bright.

The doors to the lounge swooshed to the sides, presenting everyone inside with a line of casually dressed helpers.

The girls went inside with no hesitation, each aiming for their precise target.

"I hope you got to relax a little," the same girl that lead Leon to the lounge from the lab now returned to his side with a wide smile. She wrapped her hands around the young man's arm and pressed herself to it.

"More or less," Leon replied, his gaming facade partially collapsing when assaulted by the girl's bold moves.

"I hope you are ready, then," she added, quickly leading Leon out of the room and through a brightly-lit corridor.

In a single moment, Leon found himself in a huge, round room. It was perfectly white and housed a set of doors all across its curvature.

'There have to be at least fifty adjacent rooms in here,' Leon made the observation, gulping his saliva down.

The girl by his side didn't hesitate. The moment she walked out of the connecting corridor, she turned at a seemingly random angle and marched towards a set of doors marked with a huge number of twenty-seven.

The doors opened as soon as Leon reached their proximity. And all across the massive room, other contestants were doing the same.

"Please, make yourself at home and log in within the next five minutes," the girl informed. "With that, my job is over. Good luck and have fun!" the girl cheered before patting Leon on the back and lightly showing him inside the capsule-like room.

Leon stepped inside the room, only for his body to shake a little.

'I'm used to narrow areas, but this place is something else,' he thought, moving through the narrow space between the wall of the room and the single bed by its side.

The only other equipment within the room consisted of a small shelf currently blocked by a see-through panel. On the panel's surface, Leon saw a small glister of a control panel.

"Can you get me a cup of strong coffee?" Leon asked out, too overwhelmed by the moment to bother typing the request out.

The panel flashed up, losing its see-through quality. And a mere moment later, it suddenly moved aside, revealing a mid-sized cup of steaming-hot coffee.

'And that's what you call a nice life,' Leon thought, pulling the cup and taking one, long sip.

The young man took a moment to let the rich drink warm his insides. And then, he placed the cup aside before laying down on the bed and lowering the VR gear over his head.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The model used in the company's local headquarters came with a handy spray that covered Leon's eyes with a high-grade hypno agent.

Leon's consciousness sank into the simulation. He took only a fraction of the time he would usually need to fall into the falsehood of the game.

At first, Leon's consciousness appeared in the perfect white space of the VR system. As his set was hard-wired to the local server, Leon couldn't really do much in this space besides waiting for the clock hanging in the air to strike zero.

'Four minutes left, huh?' Leon thought, gazing at the clock.

It was only a short amount of time, something that Leon would easily waste just lying in bed every morning. And yet, this time those minutes stretched nearly to infinity, forcing the young man to patiently count the seconds down.

[Magic and Might: Shattered World]

[Welcome, user27]

[Deep simulation dive in 3...]

[2...]

[1...]

Leon's insides squeezed when an overwhelming feeling of falling down brought his balls all the way up his throat. He felt like sitting on the edge of a helicopter's rotor for a moment, his vision went dark.

And once Leon opened his eyes, the white lobby of the VR operating system gave way to the lush greenery of the deep, old forest.

"Are you okay?" Basil asked, noticing his friend's misstep.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Leo replied, raising his eyes.

This scene wasn't anything new. All the previous iterations of "MoM" would always throw its players right into the middle of some sort of situation.

This time, however, Leo's situation was a result of his choices from before. And contrary to the confusion that flashed in his eyes for a second, Leo perfectly understood what was going on.

"Still, are you really sure this will work?" Basil asked, a troubled look appearing on his youthful face.

'I know that's how I made him be, but just looking at this handsome face of his makes me slightly annoyed,' Leo thought as he raised one of his eyebrows. 'All the popular guys should go die, shouldn't they?'

"You don't need to worry," Leo said, hiding his thoughts behind a facade of a cheerful smile. "Challenging them is the best way to get their attention. And the drinks," Leo made a short pause to raise one of the pouches attracted to his light attire.

The metallic noise came out of the pouch when Leo lightly shook it in the air.

"And the drinks will keep everyone happy," the young man added.

He then pulled on the reins of the horse he was leading as Leo's group finally reached the clearing that was their destination.

A village hidden in the depths of the Baruda forest. The one place that caught Leon's interest ever since he threw his first look at the map of the area.

There were only a few buildings within the clearing, most of which were in a pretty run-down state.

The folk that lived here paid little to no attention to the comforts of their workplace. This area only served as the logistical checkpoint for the trade of their haul of furs and skins in exchange for coins and produce of Leo's estate.

Leo left the reins of his horse to one of his attendants before nodding at Basil and then moving ahead. He directed his steps right towards the only impressive building in the area.

And judging from the noises coming from the inside of it, the party at the local tavern was in full swing.

Bam!

Leo mercilessly slammed the doors open, putting a stop to the merry inside.

At first, only those near the entrance noticed his presence. Yet, by the time he made his way through half of the main hall, every pair of eyes in the building followed his moves.

'Barbarians, bushmen, and cavemen,' Leo thought, scanning the locals as he moved towards the counter. He then forcefully stopped the twitching of his lips. 'Just like I wanted!'

The developers of the game really did a great job. All the steps and plans that Leo detailed in the preparatory phase actually worked out just like he desired!

Encouraged by the good, early signs, Leo pushed with his plan without any mercy.

He approached the counter of the Inn... Only to jump right over it.

The bottle-master of the inn stood up from his privileged chair, shocked by the display of Leo's arrogance.

Something that within the rural society of this frontier village was as stupid as it was dangerous.

"Who the hell..." one of the customers stood up. He had wide shoulders and an even greater belly. And coupled with his generally massive build, he appeared like a mountain among men...

Normal men, that is. Because in the middle of the local customers, his posture was average at most.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" another customer shouted, raising up from his chair as well.

'The room is properly stirred up, now,' Leo thought, calmly observing as his labors started to bear fruit.

Eager to fan the flames of the insulted locals, Leo stretched his legs out and rested them on the counter. He then grabbed with his hand to the side, pulling out one of the most expensive liquors of the Inn.

Snap!

Leo uncorked the bottle with a single bite of his teeth.

Locals grasped at the handles of their weapons with a single curl of their fingers.

"Who am I, you ask," Leo finally opened his mouth, repeating the question only to then dunk a huge portion of the bottled drink directly into his throat.

He then dropped the bottle to the side in a nonchalant manner and wiped his mouth with his sleeve before standing up and leaning over the counter.

"I'm the owner, you moron."