Cosplay contest
It was finally Saturday. Mark was really excited about today since he put a lot of effort into arranging the café and the event as best as he could.
Around 10:00 there was already a long line of people in front of Mark café. There were around 150 people already. In the long line you could see people dressed in all kinds of characters.
Some of them wore long white robes and tied their hair looking like an immortal from ancient times while others took a more different approach.
One young boy around 17 stood out in particular as his costume was that of a Taotie. A boss monster players encounter later in the game.
There were others who wore monster costumes as everyone loved different things about the game.
Some focused on the lore, some on the NPC and their backstory while others like the free combat system of the game and the challenging enemies.
Mark observed all this with a smile on his face as he thought that this first event of the café would be memorable to many as later in their years, they will remember this time when they were young.
20 minutes later Mariah came as well. She was wearing a royal blue dress and stilettos. Her hair tied in a bun behind her head.
The moment Mark saw her his mouth was aghast as he felt he was falling in love for a second time.
"Hahha, stop steering silly, you are almost salivating. You are the boss of the café; you can't appear like this in front of the crowd.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just that you look amazing." Said Mark as he scratched the back of his head a little embarrassed.
As they chatted, more people continued to arrive, and the line grew longer. Eventually, it was time to open the café and let everyone inside.
Mark and Mariah worked together to get everyone seated and served. The customers were all very excited and happy to be there, and the atmosphere was electric.
"EVERYONE! IS TIME TO GET THIS EVENT STARTED!!" Said Mark raising his voice so that everyone could hear him.
"At the and of the event I prepared prizes for the first 3 places and two more consolation prizes for the 4th and 5th place."
"Without any ado I invite the host on to present the participants in today event."
The crowd erupted in cheers as Mariah took the stage. Her blue dress made her stand even more as the crowd started to cheer even harder at the sight of her.
"Bastards, how dare you stare at my future wife like that" murmured Mark while going of the stage. It looks like the moment Mariah took the stage everyone forgot about him.
"Welcome, everyone! I am so excited to be here today and to see so many amazing costumes! As you all know, we are here to celebrate launch of the new game "Rise of immortals" as well as the great number of sales thanks to all of you, but we are also here to compete in a little contest." Said Mariah with her sweet voice and a smile that stunned the people in the crowd, especially the male ones.
Mark could see a few boys getting an elbow hit from what he could assume to be the boys' girlfriends.
As each participant took the stage, the crowd cheered and applauded. Mark and Mariah also gave some comments on each of the participants costumes.
Finally, the winners were announced.
The first place went to the young boy dressed as a Taotie, who had also shown impressive knowledge of the game's lore. The second place went to a group of friends who had dressed up as characters from a popular quest in the game. And the third place went to a woman who had created an incredibly realistic fairy costume.
She would have probably won if there were more males than females today.
As the first event of the night drew to a close Mark also got ready to hand in the prizes prepared by the system.
Mark stepped up to the microphone and addressed the crowd, "Thank you to all of the participants coming out today and making our first event a huge success! We couldn't have done it without you. And now, it's time to hand out the prizes!"
For the first place Mark awarded a very realistic game item. It was a legendary mage staff in the game that all players desired.
The staff itself was made with the bark of the world tree and the end was also keeping a jewel known in the game as "World's end jewel."
Second place Mark awarded a set of game collectibles that were also very rare in the game.
As for the third place Mark also awarded another game item. It was a peach wood longsword. Also, a very desired item by the players as this sword had a special meaning in everyone's hearts.
For the 4th and 5th prizes Mark awarded them a small trophy and a set of collectible game cards.
As the winners posed for photos and chatted with the other participants, Mark and Mariah felt a sense of satisfaction and pride. They had worked hard to create something special, and it had all paid off.
The first event of the night was over, but everyone was still talking excitedly about the next event and what the prizes are going to be and the winners.