The steps the little girl walked were slow but confident, not caring at all that the beings staring at her not only had unusual appearances but their aura around them also made the surrounding air heavy!
However, despite being so young and having such a demeanor, in fact, the most outstanding characteristic was her appearance by a huge margin!
Her medium-short hair which cascaded down behind her back like a river was, just like her small iris, colorful like a rainbow! Her skin was light-colored and she wore a dress covering her shoulders entirely and flowing down into a simple scoop neckline. The sleeves of the dress were long too, broadening toward the bottom but covering the arms completely!
The dress, however, was no ordinary dress as instead of it being made out of silk it was created out of seemingly scales akin to dragon scales which gradually changed colors!
"Hmph! So she finally decided to show up." Worus, the four-armed giant sneered loudly to which many gazes fell on his figure from all directions.
One of the gazes was the clown masked individual's which for some reason made Worus' body flinch scarcely before his eyes narrowed and his fingers tightened into fists.
"Just ignore him, Enas." the little girl looked at the masked individual called Enas and after giving a brief look at Worus she continued to ignore him and sat down on one of the chairs around the table.
Everyone watched the little girl's every move, some even examining her figure and every movement of hers as if they wished to see and find out all the secrets she held.
Once she was seated on the chair where her little legs failed to touch the ground, she looked at the different faces around her and showed a cute smile where her pearly white teeth became visible to everyone.
"I apologize to everyone for the wait, I had a few important matters to take care of before coming and welcoming all of you. As a sign of apology, I hope you all can accept these small gifts from me."
Whoosh!
After the little girl waved her small hand, in a flash several items appeared before each being around the table.
"This... Lady Etia, we don't deserv-"
"Just take them." the little girl who turns out to be Etia just smiled and quickly added, "For wasting your's and everyone's precious time in this hall because of me, this is the least I should do."
The being who had emerald green short hair and the eyes of a snake closed her lips and decided to just nod instead of speaking.
Etia showed a sweet smile seeing how everyone put their items away and quickly clapped her little hands twice.
Whoosh!
With a gentle breeze, a huge floating silver orb materialized above the table before everyone's eyes, within visible a list of words with numbers beside them.
Then, once more than a thousand words one after another appeared on the orb's surface, Etia flicked her little wrist, and a lollipop quickly appeared in her hand.
"Well then everyone, let us gamble a little bit, shall we?"
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On Earth, inside the mansion of Old Dan.
Sitting on a comfy chesterfield leather chair in the living room while holding a glass of red wine, Old Dan, with Thomas standing on his side, looked at the four individuals in front of him, two sitting on his right while the other two sat on the left, each pair sitting on a long leather sofa.
"The United World League tries to do what?" sitting on the right, Lucas stared with a small frown on his face while staring at Darwin beside him.
Darwin, holding a glass of whisky filled with ice in his right took a sip before talking, "A special association, known as Realm Associations. They will and probably have already started the process to create it which will gather people and separate them into smaller guilds that will complete these Realm Games on various points of the world."
"Anyone can join this association? Also, what are the rules and how will they determine who leads these guilds? These changes are just way too sudden! It hasn't even been half a day since..."
"Since we all experienced the first Realm Game and a lot of things are still unknown, I know." Darwin nodded as he knew what Lucas wished to say, and while looking at Raven at the other side of the glass table with Luna sitting close beside him, he continued, "But this information is from not one but many reliable sources, and it is very likely President Bai will announce it tomorrow morning if not in a few hours."
"As for your previous questions, Lucas, I only know they will request you to share every information about your Avatar and items you have obtained. If I have to take a rough guess, these things known as Avatar Traits and Artifacts will determine one's position within the association and in the guilds."
Upon seeing how Luca fell into deep pondering Old Dan sighed gently and said, "Although I must agree these things are too sudden as it feels like they didn't consider the possible problems that could arise in the future with such quick changes, it is irrefutable it was the right choice to do."
"How so?" Lucas asked despite having a rough guess.
Old Dan looked at his friend and after taking a sip from his wine he said, "As you can see, my body has changed all thanks to the Artifact I have chosen."
"Yeah, that is something which is hard not to notice, especially after knowing you for years!" Darwin said quietly with scarce envy flashing in his eyes.
Old Dan laughed gently but quickly turned serious and continued, "However, in truth not only my appearance changed but my strength has improved a lot."
"But, wait a second. How is that possible? According to our manual Avatar Traits and Artifacts cannot be used in the real world." Luna suddenly asked from beside Raven, who just like Darwin and Lucas, seemed eager to know the answer.
"I don't know." Old Dan shook his head, "Honestly, I have no clue at all. The only thing I know is that there are items which in the past couldn't even exist now exists and can be used in the real world with both good and awful intentions, just like Raven's Realm Gate Detector."
Old Dan has already explained what they have done an hour ago in the forest, thus the other four were not confused when they heard the small piece of paper's name Raven got after his first Realm Game.
"Therefore, I am pretty sure that all these changes are happening to keep everything in order around the world." Old Dan stated calmly.
Once Dan finished talking the whole living room fell into complete silence for a minute or two before Lucas sighed and asked, "What should we do then? I don't like the idea of joining this... Realm Association."
"Me neither." Darwin nodded in agreement.
For the two of them, who always held their fate and lives in their hands, doing something like joining a newly created organization where they had to share every piece of information about themselves, was akin to putting chains on their legs and limiting their possibilities in the upcoming future.
After all, if they decide to join this Realm Association, they have to share everything about themselves, including their Artifact's strength, collected items, and Avatar Traits. They will literally become puppets, tools that the higher-ups could move and control as they wished!
Old Dan seemed to be in a dilemma too, but it was not even 30 seconds before he gulped the whole glass of wine from his hand and after placing the now empty cup onto the glass table he stood up.
"Where are you going?" Lucas asked confused with Darwin looking the same with raised a brow.
However, instead of answering right away, Old Dan first asked Thomas to prepare the car, and only then did he show a small smile and gestured toward the four to stand up and follow him;
"Stand up. We are going to City Novas and visit one of my old friends."
"Who?" Lucas asked as he stood up, but it was a second before realization hit him, and shock appeared on his face.
And it was not only him, but Darwin, Luna, and Raven too. All three of them had deep surprise flashing in their eyes as they all thought about the same person.
Upon seeing their expression a wide grin arose on Old Dan's face and a small chuckle escaped his mouth.
"Yep, we are going to meet with President Bai, Bai Feng."
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