College students in 2004 were not like later generations, who loved going to karaoke for every meetup. Back then, booking a private room at a decent restaurant near campus and ordering a big meal was enough to make everyone happy.
As the organizer of this gathering and president of the World of Warcraft club, Igor wanted to make a good impression on the girls, so he covered the entire bill himself.
"Don't overdo it, Igor. If you're short on cash, I've got some."
Gabryell knew exactly what Igor was like. In their two years of college, Igor had never once made his monthly allowance last until the end of the month. Right now, he was clearly just trying to look rich.
Gabryell had made 800 dollars from selling gold today, so he could help Igor out in an emergency. It would be too embarrassing if Igor's first club meetup ended up disgracing Dorm Room 301.
Igor gripped Gabryell's hand. "Gabryell, you really are my brother from another mother."
The guy really was broke. Shamelessly and without hesitation, he took the few hundred-dollar bills Gabryell handed him.
The World of Warcraft club had only been established a couple of days ago. Even with Danielly joining, there were not many members. There were only fifteen registered members in total, and not all of them would necessarily come tonight.
The four roommates waited at the restaurant for a while before someone finally arrived.
Two guys pushed the door open and walked in. There was nothing special to say about their looks. Their faces were full of youthful energy.
Igor immediately greeted them and had them sit down, then continued waiting for the others.
After a while, a few more people arrived. Disappointingly, they were still guys.
"Nine out of ten of these dudes came because of Danielly." With no pretty girls in sight, Igor was extremely disappointed. He clearly remembered seeing girls' names on the club sign-up sheet.
Speak of the devil.
A girl finally arrived.
Igor looked at the "pretty girl," who had to weigh at least 180 pounds, and his dream shattered on the spot. He dropped back into his chair in fright. "Damn, how does someone like that get called FeatherWing?"
As it got close to seven in the evening, almost everyone from the World of Warcraft club had arrived. Only four people were still missing.
"President."
Two more people arrived, and Igor warmly went up to greet them. The two newcomers were officers from Student Government. The polished, scholarly-looking guy with glasses was the Student Government president, Ethan Hayes.
Beside Ethan was another Student Government vice president: Simon Wells, Ethan's close friend, right-hand man, or, less politely, his loyal sidekick.
Ethan was used to being surrounded and admired. When facing Igor, he put on an extremely lofty air and asked in the tone of someone questioning a subordinate, "Has Danielly arrived yet?"
If Danielly had not joined the World of Warcraft club, Ethan would never have joined a club like this, one he considered a waste of ambition. His intentions were obvious to everyone.
Igor said with a forced smile, "Danielly, the vice president, should be here any minute."
Gabryell frowned. If he had not known the club needed Student Government's support, he would have wanted to ask Ethan to leave.
Gabryell ignored Ethan, and Ethan paid no attention to him either. Guided by Igor, Ethan took the seat of honor.
Now only the last two people were missing.
"Sorry, we're late."
A gentle voice sounded, warm and pleasant as a spring breeze. The campus queen everyone in the private room had been waiting for finally arrived.
Danielly entered the private room. Today, she was dressed tastefully, graceful, poised, and stunningly beautiful.
Standing beside Danielly was another equally striking girl. She had long, flowing hair and excellent features. This was her roommate and close friend, Bianca.
With two beautiful girls arriving at once, the atmosphere in the private room instantly came alive.
Nine out of ten gamers were shut-ins. Before Danielly arrived, they had all been animated and confident, acting as if they could easily win her over. Once she actually appeared, they all became timid and hesitant, without even the courage to speak to her.
"Snowy, we only just arrived ourselves. Your timing is perfect." Ethan was no loser, so he did not shrink back in front of Danielly.
There happened to be an empty seat beside Ethan, obviously reserved for her.
However, Danielly completely ignored the invitation. She looked toward where Gabryell was sitting. There were two empty seats there as well, so she pulled Bianca over.
"Can I sit here?"
It felt like yesterday all over again. This was the third time Gabryell had heard Danielly ask him this.
Gabryell smiled. "No one's sitting there. Go ahead."
Danielly happily sat down with Bianca.
Seeing Danielly ignore him and sit beside Gabryell, Ethan's face shifted from red to pale. He could hardly keep his dignity intact.
"President, calm down. Danielly would never fall for some nobody. That guy just got lucky. There happened to be an empty seat beside him," Simon whispered.
After four years as Student Government president, Ethan had excellent control over his emotions. To keep others from noticing his anger, his face quickly returned to its usual refined calm.
Danielly sat on Gabryell's left, while Hugo sat on his right. Seeing the campus queen sit there, Hugo's face flushed bright red.
Gabryell remained calm. As someone who had lived through another life, there was no way he would lose his head just because a beautiful girl had sat beside him.
"Gabryell, we meet again," Danielly said, taking the initiative to speak with him.
Gabryell smiled at her. "It's been three days since philosophy class."
Danielly smiled sweetly. "We really do keep running into each other, don't we?"
Meeting three times in three days really did feel like fate.
Bianca leaned over and opened her mouth. "It's not just fate. It's very, very, very fateful. Actually, we are—"
Before she could finish, Danielly shot her a look and forced the words back down.
Igor cared most about appearances. For this meetup, he had ordered a full table of food and drinks. Now that everyone had arrived, the servers brought everything in.
"Want beer?" Gabryell asked, picking up a bottle.
Danielly shook her head. "I'll have Sprite."
Bianca leaned over again. This girl could not sit still and had a lively personality. "I want beer."
Gabryell smiled and handed her one bottle, but she was not satisfied. She held up one hand, meaning she wanted five.
A true warrior among women.
Gabryell satisfied her request and gave her five bottles of beer.
The better the friendship, the harder the drinking. The gathering became lively very quickly. Aside from Ethan, who kept staring at Danielly with an unhappy expression, everyone else had a smile on their face.
They were all students of Westhaven University, and now they had gathered because of the game. They quickly became familiar with one another. Someone suggested that everyone introduce their in-game background to see whether any of them were on the same server and could help each other.
"I'm from Ashenvale-US," a chubby guy stood up and went first.
Gabryell asked, "Alliance or Horde?"
He said, "Alliance."
Gabryell raised his glass to him. "Good luck out there."
The Horde on Ashenvale-US had Ganklord. The Alliance there would have an extremely rough time. Hopefully, this classmate could hold on.
Everyone took turns introducing themselves. Then Gabryell and his three roommates gave theirs one by one.
"We're from Tichondrius. Alliance. Fearless. I'm the guild leader, Ogabs."
As soon as Gabryell finished speaking, everyone in the room was shocked, except Ethan, who did not play the game.
"Holy crap, you're Ogabs? The guild leader of Fearless? The top Mage?"
The thousand-player Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills was too famous. Fearless had become famous in a single battle, and their name had spread across the Azeroth National Geographic Forum. Gabryell was both the guild leader and the first player to reach level 45. On the forum, he had become the top Mage everyone looked up to.
"The genuine article. You're all welcome to roll on Tichondrius and join Fearless." Gabryell immediately started recruiting.
"Carry me, bro!"
Once they confirmed that Gabryell was Ogabs, several drunk guys immediately made worshipping gestures. Even the 180-pound girl threw him a flirtatious look.
Ethan's expression grew colder and colder. Tonight's gathering should have revolved around him, the Student Government president, but someone else had stolen the spotlight.
"President, calm down. They're just gamers. They don't understand anything," Simon comforted him from the side.
It was Danielly and Bianca's turn to introduce themselves.
After a few bottles of beer, Bianca's face was flushed. She stood up first, looked at Gabryell, and said, "Leader, I'm done pretending. I can't keep this up anymore. I'm Smooch."
Hearing the name Smooch, Gabryell, Carlos, Hugo, and Igor all froze. Carlos and the other two were especially stunned. They had spent the whole day farming Scarlet Monastery with Smooch, never imagining that the real person had been right beside them.
"Holy crap, you're Smooch? Don't scare me like that." Igor suddenly jumped up.
In the game, he was always bickering with Smooch, and he lost nine out of ten times. Smooch was his natural enemy.
Bianca looked at him smugly. "Little Igor, call me Queen."
Igor regretted organizing this gathering and suddenly wanted to run away. Based on age, Bianca really was one year older than him, so she could indeed bully him a little.
Gabryell looked at Danielly.
If Bianca was Smooch, then Danielly was…
Unbelievable.
Danielly saw Gabryell's confusion. She smiled faintly at him, then stood up and said, "I'm Snowlily, the Dwarf Priest from Fearless on Tichondrius."
"Cough, cough, cough."
Hearing the answer directly from Danielly's mouth, Gabryell inevitably felt a little dazed and nearly sprayed out the beer in his mouth.
Danielly sat back down, leaned closer, and whispered, "Mentor, are you surprised?"
That sentence was no different from saying: I'm done pretending. Cards on the table. I'm your student, Snowlily.
The campus queen had turned into his in-game student. The shift was too huge. It was more shock than surprise. Gabryell needed a moment to recover. "Hugo, open a bottle for me. I need to clear my head."
Danielly took the initiative to pick up an unopened bottle of beer and opened it for Gabryell. "Then let your student pour for you."
In Ethan's eyes, Danielly's action looked intimate. She was taking the initiative to get close to someone he looked down on.
Ethan's pride was being trampled on. He suppressed his anger and asked Simon beside him through gritted teeth, "What server did they say they were on?"
Simon said, "Tichondrius. Alliance. Fearless."
Ethan would not allow his pride to be trampled on. "Download the game for me tomorrow. We'll roll Alliance on Tichondrius."
"Why not go Horde? If we go Horde, we can kill him," Simon, who had recently been playing World of Warcraft as well, said.
Ethan rejected it. "Danielly is Alliance, so I have to be Alliance. Isn't he the guild leader of the top guild on Tichondrius? Then I'll beat him fair and square and show Danielly that gaming is even easier for me than studying."
Ethan's pride would not allow him to lose. He wanted to become the guild leader of the number one guild on Tichondrius, just like he was the Student Government president at Westhaven University, admired by everyone.