1 A new age begins

, What is it with this shouting this early in the morning?" thought Novak while he was nearing the classroom. When he opened the door and entered inside he heard exited students talking in loud voices, not even noticing him as he was walking to his desk.

, Hey, did you buy a helmet yet?" - asked one student his friend.

, Of course, I saved money from my part-time job. I bought it yesterday, and you?"

, My parents bought it for me, for my birthday last week, I thought I was dreaming when they gave it to me. What do you think, do you want to play the game together with me?"

, Sure. We should invite more guys from the class to play together."

This was just one of the conversations in the classroom, all the students were talking about the same thing. , Age of Gods", these were the most used words in the classroom right now.

Novak thought to himself and then remembered. , Oh yeah, how did I forget, Age of Gods" is being released tonight. I even bought a helmet a couple days ago. I waited ten years for it, finally, it's here."

, Age of Gods" is the newest, biggest and the most immersive VRMMORPG to date. How do I know this? Everyone knows it. That is what game officials told to the entire world. And they were repeating that same sentence last ten years. But that isn't new, every game developer says the same right? Well, in this case, it is true. Especially with the trailer, they released half a year ago. That video was the most watched game trailer ever. Thunder roaring, volcanoes erupting, seas shaking that was the only tip of the iceberg. And there was even an iceberg in it. 10 times bigger than the one which sank Titanic.

Well, that for sure wasn't the only reason why I waited 10 years.

The creator of this game is famous Thomas Mayer. When I say famous I mean super famous, like a worldwide star. He became worldwide famous only when the world heard how much money he invested in the game. It was billions. Before that he was only famous in our historical circles, he was, The" archeologist, and made his name known because he found a hell of a lot of historical sites across the world. He is an enormous mythology fanatic, and that is why he gathered mythology experts from around the world and sponsored the best programmers and designers to make the best game ever.

One of those experts was my late grandpa, he was an expert in Slavic mythology, so it was natural that he was invited. He was the one who made me fall in love with all the gods and goddesses with his stories when I was a kid, and that is the main reason why I am a history professor and work with these ungrateful children.

They never show any interest in history, only now when there is a game about it ... Well who am I kidding, the only thing they are interested in is killing monsters with swords and magic. Even my generation wasn't interested in history. Mythology? That was the even worse case. Ironically I was the only one. No wonder I was called, Nerd no.1" of, Nerdy Trio".

, So did you have enough time to chat?" still, they haven't noticed me.

, Sorry professor" said class president when everyone finally found out that I am in the classroom,, we are all excited about, Age of Gods", it is coming out this evening".

, Have you heard of it professor?" asked the student in the back of the classroom.

, Of course, I heard of it" I answered, I am only 10 years older than you guys, and I don't live under a rock."

, Ha ha ha ha ha ha" entire class burst into a laughter. Good thing that they at least find me interesting and funny, otherwise trying to teach them anything would be hell.

, All right, all right everyone, let's start with the class. Since all of you find the game interesting, there will be a small test next week about ancient gods and heroes. Before you start complaining I will tell you that the ones who have more than 80% right will get a reward."

, What is a reward professor?" asked the diligent girl in the first row.

, Well" I said, I still haven't decided yet. You just have to worry about the test and I will worry about the reward." Like any of them will make 80%. , Let us begin now...."

Five classes and one afternoon later I finally found myself in a professors lounge. Every class was talking about, Age of Gods", so I thought that professors will be the same. Of course not. Most of my colleagues were older people, they wouldn't think about playing games. But not all of them are older, there are a couple of them my age. For example, two beautiful ladies entering the lounge now, and of course that big guy who is always behind them.

One of the two beautiful ladies is professor Maria, if you saw her outside the school you would think she is a model for one of the famous brands around the world and not a teacher. She is two years my junior, only 25 years old, on high heels she is tall as I am, black glossy hair, a little darker tan, beautiful almost emerald eyes, full lips, white shirt, and black dress, even without makeup she looked absolutely stunning. When she came to school this year everyone was thinking why isn't she a model instead of a math teacher. Well, that is what I thought, and probably rest of the staff too.

The shy looking lady next to her, professor Anna was another addition to the staff this year. That was one of the reasons why they got along very well together. She had blond hair made in a ponytail, thick glasses and was wearing a red blouse and jeans. She was also 25 years old. Overall she was also a nice looking woman, maybe if she took off her glasses, she could compare with professor Maria. But when I saw her I could believe that she teaches chemistry, unlike Maria.

The big guy following them was Nick, a PE teacher. He came to school three years ago, one year after me, but we never had any close contact. Me teaching history and he PE, well you could see lack of common ground for conversation. When our new two female colleagues came this year he started following them like a little puppy every break. At first, I thought that he liked professor Maria, but then I found out that he likes professor Anna, which made me relieved, but still surprised, he was taller than her almost half a meter.

Why didn't I follow professor Maria if I liked her? Well, I am not insensitive, and even if I was I was always insecure around beautiful women, especially ones like Maria.

As they were nearing the table I was sitting at, I could hear Nick's loud voice.

, Let's play it together Anna, I am strong, no one will dare bully in the game with me around."

So that was it, they will also play, Age of Gods", I made extra attention to this conversation especially Maria's expression.

, Maria and I already talked about playing together so..." said Anna shyly and made a look towards Maria.

, That is right" she said and turned towards me, Hello professor, how was your day?" she asked me.

I was stunned for a second and after recovering my train of thought I replied.

, Hello to you too professor, it was eventful as yours I presume, thanks for asking."

Anna and Nick turned in our direction and also sad hi, Anna with a little grateful smile and Nick with an expression that said why didn't this gay go home already.

I was used to this situation for the past half a year, Nick would chase Anna around the school, Ana would always go to Maria after every class, and Maria would include me into a conversation to make Nick fell awkward and Anna less so. Not that I minded Nick looking at me unfriendly, but when you have a chance to talk to a literal goddess, you don't care about the big guy.

As they sat around the table, Maria said, Well yes, you are right, in every class, I entered students were talking about the game, I had to give them a small test to calm them down."

I almost spurted tea I was drinking from my mouth at the time. She really was a strict teacher, I heard that when she first came to school some students tried to strike a friendly conversation and went too far, she gave whole class a test and 90% of the class had a failing grade. Not one student tried that again. But she was really popular with female students. But it seems that Age of Gods" triumphs over math tests every day.

, I too had the same situation" said Anna, students even asked me to play with them." Students looked at Anna like one of theirs and rarely made any mischief in her class. She was like a little sister everyone wanted to have., What about you professor Novak" continued Anna, are you also going to play, Age of Gods?"

Nick snorted, and Maria looked curiously at me.

, I will, I and my two good friends talked about the game for a long time, we are probably going to play it together. Maybe we can also play together sometimes." I have no idea how that came out of my mouth but I said that.

, That would be nice" said Anna, and I could see Nick glare at me like a wild animal, but he eased his look when he heard Maria's, Mhmm."

I had no idea what that meant but I had a nice feeling in my heart from that sound. It was like birds singing in spring.

After some small talk, we all started getting ready to go home. At the school gates, we bid farewell and made a deal to talk about the game tomorrow at breaks. Before Nick had a chance to make this day less than superb, and start his speech about him and Anna, and to but out next time, I heard a booming voice across the street calling to me.