After the battle ended and everyone spent some time in heated discussion, the net cafe finally returned to its usual atmosphere. But while the physical bodies in the real world were calm, the souls fighting within the games were as restless as ever.
To date, the net cafe had grown from its initial offering of Monster Hunter G to include Street Fighter V and Age of Empires II. It now boasted five major games, one mini-game, five movies, and two television series totaling 39 episodes.
While in Wayne's mind this was merely the prototype of a net cafe—still far from the rich variety he envisioned—in Azeroth, it was undoubtedly the most content-heavy and attractive entertainment venue in existence.
In the hearts of the players, this wasn't even a place for mere play; it was a sacred sanctuary for research, self-improvement, and training. If one were to compare, perhaps only the contents of a dry, ancient library could claim to be more extensive.
Now, players could choose games based entirely on their preferences.
Krein and several others, who hadn't finished the game or witnessed Wayne soloing the Crimson Fatalis, were playing Monster Hunter G. For them, this game was pure combat—no puzzles to solve and no lengthy plot dialogues to sit through.
Those who preferred slow-paced confrontation, especially spellcasters like Old Marlin, were playing Heroes of Might and Magic III. Magic, artifacts, and mythical species like Red Dragons and Titans—creatures they had never seen in person but were clearly recorded in ancient texts—were their primary areas of study.
Raymond, who disliked mental strain and was frequently interrupted by customer requests at the bar, along with Tess and Arator, who wanted to relax after their intense Age of Empires match, chose to watch movies and animations. These were easy to pause if something came up, allowing them to resume whenever they were free.
Li Li and Chen were in a private booth, discussing whether to make a "five-year pact" with Wayne while queuing for ranked matches in Street Fighter V, challenging online players with strange names from parts unknown.
Then there were officers like McBride, using Age of Empires to simulate and analyze war strategies and unit formations. General Jetharis particularly enjoyed researching naval units.
As for Wayne, seeing that no one was looking for him, he started playing Fruit Ninja. He had discovered that the top spot on the game's built-in leaderboard was occupied by Burth, the large Ogre from the Darkmoon Faire. Allowing a simple-minded Ogre to hold the number one spot felt like an insult to the intelligence of his customers.
After a casual round where Wayne scored 420 points—surpassing Burth's 250—a notification popped up in front of him:
[Leaderboards and MOD Workshop mode are ready. Enable now?]
After reading the detailed description, Wayne naturally selected [Yes].
Immediately, a notification appeared before every player in the cafe:
[Leaderboards and MOD Workshop are now open]
This simple line of text left everyone puzzled. Aside from Wayne, no one had ever encountered terms like "Leaderboard" (Ladder) or "MOD" before. At the bottom right of the text were two options: [Confirm] and [Details].
Almost everyone clicked [Details].
The screen transformed into an introductory animation accompanied by text. The models used for the demonstration were Wayne and the players themselves.
The general gist was that every player could accumulate "Achievement Points" through various means in any game or film. The animation showed a player facing off against Wayne in Age of Empires II; Wayne lost and cried into his hands, while the player happily flashed a peace sign.
A string of numbers appeared above the player's head, followed by an explanation: Achievement Points could be earned by completing campaign plots, defeating AI of varying difficulties, or winning ranked matches against other players. The points awarded were proportional to the difficulty; defeating a high-ranking player in ranked mode would yield several, or even a dozen, times more points than beating the AI in a campaign level.
Then, in a scene from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a dragon flew by, its flames charring Wayne to a crisp while other players fought bravely to slay it. Another string of numbers appeared. Learning recipes, unlocking skills, completing quests, and killing bosses all granted varying amounts of Achievement Points.
Even watching films would slowly accumulate points as time and the plot progressed. However, the animation clearly showed Wayne pausing to eat noodles or go to the bathroom; it indicated that if the person was not at their station or the game was paused, points would not accrue even if the plot continued.
These points were calculated independently for each game to list the top experts of the current "Season." At the end of each season, high-ranking players would be rewarded with substantial bonus points. The rankings would then be archived in the "Heroic Leaderboard," and points for the season would reset to zero to begin anew. Each season would last exactly three months.
All earned points were stored in the personal game account to be used in the "MOD Workshop." Currently, only the "Junior Workshop" was available.
Players could spend points to modify certain game content. The most direct application was unlocking custom appearances for units or equipment in Age of Empires II.
For example, they could change the appearance of "Knights" to look like "Stormwind Royal Knights." However, such matches would be categorized as "Modified Matches" and would no longer grant points other than the basic time-based accumulation.
Similarly, in Skyrim, players could use points to change the appearance of weapons, armor, clothing, or horses to whatever they desired—much like the famous MOD site "NEXUS." However, if they modified stats upward—such as increasing weapon length or armor durability—to gain an advantage beyond the original game, they would no longer be able to party up with normal players or earn Achievement Points.
Whenever a player spent points to create a specific MOD, that item would be placed in the MOD Workshop for other players to purchase and use at one-third of the original cost.
The current Junior Workshop had its limitations: all created items had to be things the player had seen with their own eyes. Things only seen in books or heard in legends could not yet be materialized through MODs.
Furthermore, the core framework of the games could not be changed. One could not create Gryphons or Wyverns in Age of Empires II since it had no air force, nor could they give a Street Fighter V character a move that summoned a dragon to wipe out the opponent with a deep breath. At this stage, where players were still mastering the games, such changes would only count as cheating and drastically reduce the fun and lifespan of the experience.