Chapter 31：The dong game (2/2)

Ben rolled his eyes. ”Whatever...but I've seen you in the sauna when we were younger, and it is not as advertised.”

Antonio shook his head with a wide grin. ”By the time they know that, it'll be too late Ben. It'll be too late!”

…

'For some of us, it's already too late…' Ben regretted asking.

Antonio changed the subject. ”Bro, let's work the line.”

”What do you mean?”

”We don't have to be inside to pick up chicks. We can first butter our biscuits outside a bit. That way, when we get inside, we won't be startin' with empty plates. We'll already have some chicks to talk to.

It sounded like a good idea to Ben, so he followed Antonio's lead.

Antonio strutted past the line throwing out his favorite nightlife openers. ”What up ladies? You girls trying to get Patrick Shwasted tonight?”

The girls glanced at his shirt and showed expressions within the narrow range between dislike and disgust. Their verbal responses were…not ideal.

After a few rounds with similar results, Antonio figured the verbal opener wasn't working. He tried a confident non-verbal approach. He walked over to some girls with his thumbs out, pointing them in a rocking motion to his shirt as he nodded and made hard eye contact.

A few minutes later, the two of them waited on line. Ben patted Antonio's back, consoling him. ”I bet the lighting out here is the problem. Let's try again inside where there's better lighting.”

”...Yea, you right. I'm sure that's it.” Antonio raised his head again.

Ben thought, 'The lighting should be better inside…hopefully it'll be dark enough where no one can see that shirt...'

After a while, they reached the front of the line. It was time for the ID check.

Ben took out the Club Rat Fake ID, taking a last look at the old grimacing troll on the front. According to the system, this would get him inside. He didn't see how, but it cost 500 points. If it didn't work, he'd sell it on eBay to try to recoup his losses from Danny DeVito fans. With a nervous smile, Ben handed the ID to the bouncer.

As the bouncer looked between Ben and the ID, Ben bent his knees and puffed his cheeks to look more like the photo, but it was all for nothing…

It worked! The bouncer didn't give the ID a second glance, letting Ben through right away.

'It's really a magical alchemy item!' Ben told himself as the gate of truth tore away a chunk of his dignity.

Ben followed Antonio up a set of gray stone stairs to the bar. With every step closer, the blasting music grew louder. When they stepped through the large wooden doors onto the dark dancefloor, the boom of the music became overwhelming. Men and women filled the space, laughing and shaking their bodies.

Antonio leaned over to Ben to whisper something in his ear, but Ben couldn't hear a word of it. The music was loud, but that wasn't the reason. Something else was ringing in his ears, capturing all his sensory attention. It was a system alert!

[Dungeon instance detected]

[Special event initiated]