Chapter 109 - SELENE PALACE
LUO YAN looked out of the window of the carriage. Then he saw some kind of portal opening in the sky. The leading carriage went inside the portal. Followed by another. Their carriage was fourth in line, so soon, they too entered the portal. Luo Yan felt that feeling of being sucked in a vacuum once again. Ah, he really disliked this feeling. It took a while before the feeling completely went away.
"Xiao Yan, we're here," he heard Bai Ze said beside him.
Luo Yan opened his eyes and once again looked outside the window. His eyes slightly widened when he saw what was outside. It was a floating island. At the center of it stood a crystal palace. It almost looked like that palace Elsa made from that movie Frozen. This one just looked grander.
There were different kinds of flowers blooming around the floating island. They were all in different colors and forms. Giving warmth to the seemingly cold looking palace. There was even a stream flowing around the island. But the most striking view was the big full moon behind the floating island. It's because the island was so high up in the sky that it almost looked like it was beside the moon.
The carriage slowly descended. When it completely landed on the driveway of the palace, the first one to go out was Shen Ji Yun, followed by Su Yuqi and Bai Ze. The last one to go out was Luo Yan who was still holding Luo Jin like some stuff toy.
"Yan, you can put me down now," Luo Jin said. He was already mortified to the extreme to have his second brother hold him like this.
When Shen Ji Yun heard that, he immediately said, "Yes, put him down. You might get tired if you continue holding him."
Luo Jin glanced at Shen Ji Yun. The bastard still looked like an expressionless robot, but if you listen closely to his words, you could hear the hastiness in his voice. As if he couldn't wait for Luo Yan to put Luo Jin down. Luo Jin suddenly had the urge to let Luo Yan hold him a little longer. But his pride as a man just wouldn't let him.
"Eh?" Luo Yan held his younger brother up and rubbed his cheek with Luo Jin's. "But I want to hold Ah Jin much longer."
Luo Jin blushed and then pushed his second brother's face away from him. "Yan- put me down!"
Luo Yan pouted. "Fine." And then he reluctantly put down Luo Jin.
Shen Ji Yun finally felt satisfied when he saw that. Although he really didn't know what he's feeling so satisfied for.
"Distinguished guests, please follow me," said the handsome NPC wearing a butler's uniform. Then he gestured for them to follow.
The players who got off the carriage followed the NPC into the palace. Before they could enter main door, they needed to show their invitations first.
When it was Luo Yan's turn, he took out the invitation from his Items Tab and showed it to the NPC.
The NPC scanned his invitation. After confirming that the invitation was genuine, he said, "Welcome, distinguished guest. Do you have any companions with you?"
"Me!" Luo Jin immediately said.
Shen Ji Yun stepped up to Luo Yan's side. "And me."
Both Luo Yan and Luo Jin glanced at Shen Ji Yun. Luo Jin wanted to snap at the guy, but then he thought, it didn't really matter who he said he was a companion with, because the five of them came there together. So it didn't really matter in the end. Unlike him, Luo Yan didn't think much.
"Three distinguished guests, you can now enter," the NPC said, gesturing for them to walked inside.
When Luo Yan stepped inside, he felt a slight jolt. As if a weak voltage passed over his whole body. Then he felt a tingling on the back of his right hand. He looked down and saw an outline of a crescent moon on the back of his hand.
He turned back to the others who already walked inside the palace. "Do you also have this?" he asked and raised his hand that had the crescent moon outline.
"Yeah," Bai Ze said showing him the same crescent moon.
"It probably have something to do with the kind of game the King prepared this year," Su Yuqi said while looking at the crescent moon on the back of her hand.
"For now, let's follow the butler NPC first," Shen Ji Yun suggested.
Everyone agreed to what he said. So they went and followed the said NPC. He led the players towards a huge door. Two NPCs wearing a guard's uniform were standing on both sides of the door. When they arrived, the two guards NPC opened the door. Beautiful music immediately spilled out as they did.
The handsome NPC wearing butler's uniform turned to them. "Distinguished guests, please enter."
Some of the players entered the room. Luo Yan and the others also followed.
What Luo Yan saw was a huge ballroom. There was a big floating crystal chandelier that lighted up the whole place. There was a long table on the side filled with different kind of dishes. There were rows of female NPCs wearing maid costumes, as well as male NPCs wearing waiter costumes. On the other side, there were floating instruments playing on their own which were the source of the music filling the ballroom.
Luo Yan then glanced at the other players. He counted them in passing. Including them, there were a total of 21 players. For such an event that only happened once a year, these numbers were definitely too few.
"I thought there would be more players attending," he said.
"It's because there were only 10 invitations being given out every year," Bai Ze said. "Three players could attend with one invitation, so at most, 30 players could attend this event. But seeing how we're only 21 here, some players probably came alone. Just like that Alucard for example."
"Because the invitations were too rare, the players who could attend this event were mostly from big teams," Su Yuqi added.
"Like that one wearing all-white for example," Bai Ze said pointing at one of the players with golden brown hair and glasses on his face. "His from team Celestials."
And one of the original members to boot. Bai Ze wondered what someone like that was doing here. He thought for sure they would simply give this job to a lower ranking member. But then again, that Xu Ru even came here himself – a captain of a pretty famous team .
Team Celestials? Luo Yan looked over at the player wearing all-white. If he remembered correctly, that girl, Song Liuli belonged to that team. Because of those comments he read comparing the two of them together, he couldn't help but remember some of her information.
"His Majesty has arrived!" the butler NPC suddenly announced loudly.
The music stopped. There was a sound from above. When Luo Yan looked up, he saw the ceiling slowly disappearing. Then a crystal staircase suddenly appeared, connecting the opened ceiling to the floor. Crystals in the shape of opened lotus flowers floated down. And then a figure slowly descended.
He had silvery white hair that looked like strands of moonlight. His pair of apricot eyes were the color of the night sky. One could even see stars shining in them. He was wearing a costume that a monarch from some western fantasy world would wear. It fitted his tall and slender body perfectly. And on top of his head was a golden crown inlaid with silver gemstones.
It's the King of Arcadia.
Now that's what you called a grand entrance.