Chapter 39: 39 Pops
As time passed, the royalty made a bond with the beast that it followed him no matter where he goes and because of that bond; the royalty received a blessing from the Waters and got the ability to keep the beast as a card.
"Because of his charisma, that Royalty tamed other beasts that belonged to other domains and made them his guardian beasts. The Black Tortoise from the Marine Domain, White Tiger from the Earthen Domain, Azure Dragon from the Avian Domain, and the Phoenix from the Ashen Domain." The old man said as he sipped a bit from the cup of juice placed in front of him.
"Nowadays, he was known as the King and the supreme leader of the Royalties. His name is Eustass Cleuma. He once visited the Ashen Elves and tamed the Phoenix at that time." he continued as he took a piece of paper from out of nowhere and placed it on the table.
Everyone inside the room looked at the picture and saw a handsome and humble looking man with the same hair color as Arie has now and there were few scales on his arms as four majestic-looking beasts surrounded him.
"This was the photo that I took when he visited Asheville after capturing the Phoenix." he smiled as he looked at Arie in a reminiscing manner.
"Bro, if you look closely, the Royalty looked like pops!" Urie exclaimed as he took the picture and looked closely.
"Pops? No, no! He can't be that good looking! I remember him as an old hermit that looked ragged and as if he wasn't taking a bath for a long time!" Arie shook his head in disagreement.
"That's because you haven't seen him cleanly shaved his face and healthy looking, that was before he entered Groundhog!" Urie retorted as a look of longing could be seen in his eyes.
"Groundhog? You mean the company that made this game?" Arie asked, but the old man looked at the two with interest.
"Game? I see, so that's what it was!" The old man nodded as if he understood something.
"So you knew that this was a game from the start?" Arie surprisedly exclaimed as he looked at the old man with a shocked expression.
The old man shrugged his shoulders as he placed his hand on the table and took the picture.
"Before, I was having some doubts if this world was real or not, but there was an old forsaken legend about the origin of this world. The only thing that I could tell you is that this world is real, and some things happened that lead to this!" the old man looked at them with a hinted glint in his eyes.
"Can you tell us more about that doubt?" Arie asked, but the old man shook his head.
"I'm afraid that I can't." he said helplessly and stood up. "I think that's everything that I could tell you. I hope we don't meddle with your journey!" The old man bowed towards the two and guided them out of Asheville.
"Good luck, saviors!" the chant of the people of Asheville that could be heard from a distance.
The two continued their journey towards the first city that could bring the major change to their gaming life.
The Clocksworth City.
As they were walking through the path towards the city, Arie asked Urie things about their father.
"Bro, are you really sure that pops works at Groundhog?" he asked his older brother.
"Yes, well, you were still young when mom died and he needs to stay there to finish the biggest project of the company. He left us with Aunt Ming Qui, but I ran away with you because she's abusing us and I even went to hospital because you were covered with bruises before." Urie sadly reminisced, as if he didn't want to remember anything that happened before.
"Really? I can't remember any of those?" Arie asked.
"Yes, you wouldn't remember them even if you try. I bet you couldn't even remember Aunt Ming Qui's face!" Urie replied.
"Now that you mentioned it, I really can't picture her figure? Why is that?" Arie asked, but Urie just shook his head.
"I think you don't need to remember that part, it might be too painful for you to handle that's why your mind chose to forget those experiences!" he said while looking ahead at the part where the rocky terrain ended and a green forest could be seen.
"So, I could meet pops in real life?" Arie asked his brother.
"Well, if you could enter Groundhog, maybe that's possible!" Urie shrugged.
"Uhm, haven't I told you that Groundhog took me into custody since the time that you went into comatose?" Arie scratched his head.
"Wait, have you? My mind! I can't remember at all! But, if you ever meet him, don't be mad at him and say that I'm fine here!" Urie patted his young brother's head, which was only a few inches high above his shoulders.
They entered the forest, which was not as extraordinary as those that they went before. There were a few Nature-Class with some Earth-Class beasts roaming around, but they chose to ignore them since those beasts were some of those that they've encountered before.
Arie's Clan might be Elven, but he has received no prompts about capturing them, nor has Urie.
They just went straight out of the woods until they've reached a wide open area, but what welcomed the two was half of the area was brimming with life while the other half was eerie as everything was corrupted to some extent.
At the center of the extraordinary phenomena, there were two beasts staring at each other as they looked like they might clash soon.
Out of instinct, Urie hid behind a bush and pulled his brother with him.
"What's happening, brother?" Arie confusedly asked as he looked in the direction where his brother was looking.
"We might witness an overall battle between what I suspect as legendary beasts!" Urie replied in a whisper.
"Legendary Bea–!" Arie almost shouted, but Urie covered his mouth just in time.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone