"Show more professionalism from now on. How do you expect to become a professional player if you can't even arrive on time?" Eleonor was scolding Julius for arriving after the agreed-upon time, completely forgetting that she had also been late!
But that didn't matter! She needed to make sure that her golden mine stayed on track!
He had too much potential for her to let it slip just because he was lazy.
Julius, on the other hand, felt wronged.
"Hey! It's not like I was just messing around or something! I could even say I was working as a professional player!" He thought of responding that way, but upon seeing Eleonor's irritated expression, Julius reconsidered and realized it was always better to be polite!
"If they slap your cheek, offer the other!" He tried to remember a saying, but he wasn't sure if it was exactly that.
"I apologize. I was at the [Association], it seemed like a way to speed up my path to becoming a digger, so I wanted to make sure it wasn't some sort of scam." Julius, not knowing that Eleonor had also arrived late, decided to back down from this battle.
"Hm?" Hearing him talk about his career, Eleonor's eyes sparkled. 'Looks like he wasn't just talking out of his mouth!'
She had talked to her parents earlier about this, and Julius was very talented!
He needed to become a professional player, or it would be a waste!
So, when she heard that he was pursuing it on his own, Katharina, Frans, and Eleonor's eyes all lit up!
"He could probably already be an expert in any guild, but it's still too low for him. I'll let Eleonor take care of him for now," Katharina thought as she exchanged looks between Julius and Eleonor.
"I'm sorry, young ones, but it seems like there's nothing I can do for you!" Seeing his wife's behavior, Frans just shook his head and said a little prayer for Julius and his daughter.
"So, what did you find out at the association?" Of course, Eleonor had already heard about this new organization, as it was a hot topic at her college.
'I was surprised to see so many people talking about [The Gates].' She saw people she never imagined would play a virtual reality game, excitedly talking about [The Gates] in a way she had never seen anyone talk about any other game, showing just how popular the new game was.
[The Gates] had burst any bubble that existed before in the gaming world, making almost everyone in the world want to play it.
As a result, the number of players on the first day was simply staggering. This made the sight of the almost empty village feel quite strange.
"It looks like a theory I had when I first started playing has turned out to be true. Do you remember that coin you received along with the bracelet?" Julius began explaining to her something he was sure of as soon as he realized the [Association] was real.
Players really needed a new coin to play again after they lost, but it was much more than that. It seemed like the coin just created an 'avatar' from scratch, making any progress useless as soon as a player was defeated.
"Isn't this a bit much for a game like this!?" Again, the decisions of the company didn't make much sense to Julius.
"I understand." Eleonor listened to Julius' entire explanation about the avatars and began to think more deeply about it.
"And you received it for defeating one of the wolves, right?" She seemed to be murmuring more to herself than to anyone else.
"This is simply perfect!" Katharina jumped with excitement and grabbed one of Eleonor's arms. "If it's possible to get more [Samsara Coins] just by defeating those little wolves, shouldn't we do it now!?"
Katharina made some suggestive movements with her hands, tracing along her neck, to show what she meant by 'defeating' the wolves.
"Yes, I don't think it's wrong to think that way. Our plan should stay the same, let's go back to the forest and make some recordings of you defeating the wolves. Your profile will blow up when they realize you can handle some wolves on your own!"
"Let's go, let's go!" Katharina quickly pulled her daughter's arm, showing that she couldn't wait any longer!
What Eleonor didn't know was that Katharina wasn't at all concerned about the hunt, but rather about spending some alone time with her daughter!
The two quickly distanced themselves, leaving Julius and Frans farther behind.
"What just happened? I thought we were going to talk more about what I experienced at the [Association]!" He was surprised how quickly things escalated into them hunting again. Julius didn't even have time to explain what had happened in the room!
"I still needed to talk about the dark dimension!"
"But then, what were you going to say about the rest of the events at the [Association]?" Frans had noticed that Julius hadn't finished explaining what happened at the association before the mother and daughter took charge and left the two of them behind.
Hearing this, Julius felt like he was back to his childhood, and his father was giving him attention.
"I'm not completely ignored by this family!" He celebrated, looking at the sky.
Soon after, Julius began explaining everything that had happened to Frans.
Frans listened attentively, genuinely surprised at some points.
Especially when Julius thought the bracelet allowed the company to alter people's memories even outside of the game.
"One thing is them using this technology inside the game, but doing something like this in real life? The people at [UNION] are crazy?" Frans knew the amount of legal issues [UNION] could face if what Julius said was true.
"Probably not even the military could use such technology like that!"
"Maybe I should start using more of my influence to try to understand more about the situation?" He thought, frowning deeply. "Julius doesn't seem like the type of guy who would make something like this up, it's better to reach out to some old contacts."
After analyzing a bit more, Frans decided to send some men to learn more about [Rainbow Sword], as it was the only clue they had at the moment.
"I'll try to find him inside the game first; maybe that's better." He didn't want to use some of his trump cards just yet to look for the man in the real world. First, Frans would use his influence to try his luck inside the game.
Meanwhile, Eleonor and Katharina walked a few meters ahead of the two men.
The two walked arm-in-arm and seemed very close, just like a mother and daughter should be.
"What nonsense are you talking about!?" The harmonious image of them walking together was broken by Eleonor's shout, as she quickly detached from her mother and took the lead even further.
"Why is she taking the lead, being the healer?" Thinking Eleonor was just having one of her outbursts again, Julius didn't care much about the girl's sudden speech. "So far, she's seemed pretty unstable to me."
He looked at Frans, trying to find an answer from the man who had lived with the two women for a long time.
Seeing Julius's gaze on him, Frans just shrugged, signaling confusion, showing that even he didn't know what was happening.
"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea letting her handle my social media…" Julius questioned himself, noticing how the mother and daughter were behaving.
Having to hurry so Eleonor wouldn't enter the forest alone, the rest of the group started walking faster to catch up with her.
When the group reunited, they were already at the edge of the forest.
Once again, Julius felt like he was looking directly at a painting that showed a false image of what was inside the forest.
"Could this be a mechanism to make the forest scarier, so fewer creatures dare venture inside?" If that were the case, such a thing probably happened to maintain the balance within the forest.
Julius wasn't sure how something like this was possible, as he still couldn't understand how a forest could alter how people outside of it perceived it.
But he was sure that the inside was much more 'welcoming' than the outside made it seem.
Julius felt like he was looking at a photo with a darker filter...
In the end, he decided not to think too much about it this time.
"Let's go in." The first to take the initiative and step into the forest was Frans.
Julius followed right after, leaving Katharina and Eleonor behind. But before crossing into the 'other' side of the forest, he heard something coming from Katharina.
"Don't be like that, he's quite cute!"
********************
The group spent several more hours inside the forest hunting the wolves that lived there until the moment when the wolves stopped appearing.
They stayed there trying to find more, but after a while, they realized that the wolves that hadn't been hunted yet had moved away from the outermost parts of the forest.
"Should we go back there?" Eleonor asked, uncertain to what do next. Even though they were deeper in the forest, the trees here weren't dense enough to block the sunlight, making the group aware that it was almost getting dark.
"No, we'll come back tomorrow. I don't want to risk staying out here when night falls." Frans was firm in his words, making it clear that he wouldn't accept anything different from the group. Once again, he was taking on the role of leader, ensuring everyone's safety.
Julius not only didn't care about this, but he also agreed that the group should leave the forest.
Moreover, the group had already gathered a good haul so far. Especially Julius with his physique. They had managed to defeat 14 more wolves, 10 of which were from Julius, who had landed the final blow, resulting in a good boost to his attributes.
He had also managed to handle up to 3 wolves alone, which excited Eleonor with the recordings.
'The peolple gonna love this!' She said while recording back then.
"It seems like we found another illusion created by the forest. Do you think each sector here is separated by these paintings?" Katharina asked, returning to the spot where Eleonor had been wondering if it was worth going back to, which was actually one of these illusions.
Once again, the forest had created a scary and dark image of itself, but this time the group hadn't attempted to pass through yet, so they didn't know what was on the other side of the painting.
"I don't know. It feels like there's something more to this forest." Julius and the others had finally concluded that something was off. What had once seemed like a way to scare off some creatures now appeared to be the forest trying to protect something at its center.
"I think we should go back soon, I still need to edit the videos to post in the Hall of Fame." Since everyone had decided to return, Eleonor wanted to speed this up to get the edits done before posting.
The group agreed, and they all returned to the village once more. This time, no one wanted to stay overnight to see if the demons would return again.
And it seemed that they weren't the only ones thinking that way—almost all the players were already there, disappearing in particles of light.
"I'll make the edits and send you the video to the number you gave me. Just give me your feedback, and I'll post it on all the necessary networks..." Eleonor approached Julius, but every word she said seemed to make her stop and glance at her mother.
Julius also noticed that she was speaking somewhat nervously, with a slight blush on her cheeks.
Meanwhile, Katharina chuckled lightly from a distance as she watched her daughter's interaction.
"Fufufufu, it's so nice to be young!" She let out a few more laughs before disappearing into particles of light.