The novelties and spectacular architecture of Hogwarts left the five people immersed in the movie world reluctant to leave. Just as the Sorting Ceremony in the Great Hall concluded—with Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sorted into Gryffindor—the 8:00 PM bell rang.
Business hours were over.
Except for Wayne, the scenes before everyone's eyes faded from the movie and returned to the initial selection interface.
Zaldimar, Jyssetta, and Lyria, who were playing for the first time, saw their levels rise from LV0 to LV4. Raymond, who had played for half a day more, had already reached LV6.
However, compared to the strength and agility enhancements provided by Monster Hunter G, the two-hour viewing of Harry Potter focused more on magic-related abilities.
For the Priest, Mage, and Warlock, they felt a slight increase in their mana and spell power. For Lyria the warrior, her improvement was focused on magic resistance.
Exiting the movie world so abruptly left them feeling a bit disoriented. Their exploration of Hogwarts had only just begun; they were more concerned with how the plot would progress and what magical lessons Harry would learn in class.
Unlike the game, where one could stand aside and watch someone else play on the screen after logging off, the movie showed nothing on the external monitors. This was not only to prevent spoilers but also because every viewer had a different freely chosen viewing angle and progress. Once you exited the viewing session, you couldn't see what others were watching.
"Miller," Zaldimar paused, as if making a difficult decision. "I'll pay 2 gold per hour. Can you let me watch a bit longer?"
Beside him, Jyssetta and the others cast expectant glances at Wayne.
Wayne's answer was the same as always: "No, no. Rules are rules. Take a break tomorrow and come back the day after."
Hearing Wayne say this, Raymond quickly stepped in to defend him: "Teacher has spoken. Let's not disturb him. The sooner he uncovers the secrets of Hogwarts, the better he can lead us through it."
The latter half of the sentence clearly moved Zaldimar and the other two. With reluctant expressions, they departed, and Raymond quietly left with them.
After a while, Wayne ran back to his room, went down to the cellar, and grabbed the ice-cold Coke and popcorn he had only tasted briefly. He returned to the net cafe to continue watching the movie.
Holding the popcorn, Wayne watched the plot progress. Interestingly, in the virtual movie environment, a bag of popcorn actually appeared in his hand while he was immersed. When he tried to pick up the Coke from the small table beside his chair, a bottle of Coke appeared in his hand within the movie world as well.
He was truly eating, drinking, and walking while watching—it was pure bliss.
However, he soon felt the popcorn in his hand lose its appeal.
Just as all the new students finished their sorting and returned to their seats, Headmaster Dumbledore stood up and announced, "Let the feast begin!"
Instantly, on the four incredibly long tables filled with students in the Great Hall, every empty plate was filled with typical Western European delicacies like roast chicken, bread, corn, vegetable salad, mashed potatoes, and thick soup.
The most agonizing part was that this was virtual reality; the intense aroma and the tempting colors of the food began to provoke all of Wayne's five senses.
He set down his Coke and popcorn and tried to grab a chicken leg. To his surprise, he actually picked it up.
The greasy, slightly hot sensation immediately transferred from his fingertips—it was exactly like the scene in Monster Hunter G when his fingers touched the damp, sticky soil while gathering herbs.
Taking a bite, he chewed the crispy skin and the meat flavored with subcutaneous fat. It wasn't the ultimate delicacy, but it wasn't inferior to the roast chicken legs at the Lion's Pride Inn across the street.
However, no matter how realistic virtual reality was, it was still virtual. Swallowing the chicken leg didn't produce any feeling of fullness. In other words, all the experiences were sensory perceptions within the virtual world. For the physical body sitting in the net cafe chair, if you were full, you stayed full; if you were hungry, you stayed hungry.
Soon, after the scene of Harry's yearning by the window at night, the story moved to the next day, and classes officially began.
Wayne discovered something even more useful than the sense of taste. He could smell the bubbling herbal juices in the cauldrons used for brewing alchemical potions. He could even pick up a herb from Professor Snape's podium during the Potions class and taste what it felt like.
Although it produced some side effects—such as extreme bitterness, spiciness, or even numbing of the tongue and mouth—these, like being killed by a monster in Monster Hunter, were limited to the virtual world and had no impact on his real body.
But since Harry had just entered school, the lessons were only about learning terminology for formulas and identifying magical runes; they were far from the practical stage. Thus, as an observer, Wayne couldn't yet experience the effects of a fully crafted potion or a fully mastered spell.
However, the first class in the afternoon truly opened his eyes.
That was one of the major features of the Harry Potter world—the Flying Lesson on broomsticks.
Facing the rows of broomsticks laid out before the students, Wayne picked up an extra one. Like the students, he listened to Madam Hooch, the flying instructor, explain the insights into controlling a broom.
All the rules in the movie world, including magical theories, were valid within that space. Therefore, even though the people in the movie couldn't see Wayne or be affected by him, he actually managed to fly at a low altitude using the newly learned control techniques!
One must realize that the World of Warcraft he had traveled to was still in the early stages of Year 24 of the Dark Portal.
In this year, Thrall's New Horde had only been settled on the other continent for three years. In the latter half of this year, the Forsaken, led by the Banshee Queen Sylvanas, had just joined the Horde. Gnomeregan, the capital of the Gnomes, had just fallen, and they were forced to move into Ironforge.
Old history had just turned its page, and new stories were just beginning. Whether it was the Gryphon riders of the Alliance or the Wyvern riders of the Horde, they were the elite of the elite. In short, those who could soar in the sky were few and far between.
After its destruction, Dalaran had been undergoing reconstruction inside a massive magical bubble, cutting off all external contact. Therefore, let alone flying on a broomstick, whether such a spell even existed was a mystery to the vast majority of spellcasters.
Although, as Zaldimar said, the magic system of the Harry Potter world was vastly different from that of the war-torn World of Warcraft, the ability to experience flight in a movie was absolutely a massive selling point!
And, of course, there were the ice-cold Coke and popcorn to be launched tomorrow.