Chapter 714

  Unfortunately for Anton, his plan to observe the Brownie village for a couple of days was not meant to be. A fierce blizzard arrived, burying the whole village in snow.

  “It’s only the beginning of winter. Is it normal for this place to encounter these kinds of blizzards?” Anton asked Terun.

  “This is the north, so yes. Usually, these kinds of blizzards don’t last long. After a few hours, they would stop, and life in the village would resume,” Terun answered.

  “There were instances, though, that heavy snowfall would last for days, but those usually happen starting from the middle of winter,” Glenda added.

  For the next day, everyone was stuck inside their homes. Anton went to the guest room and started leveling up his Diablo characters. He wanted to make sure that even in the middle of his exploration, he would not neglect his true way to power, which was his Diablo system.

  When noon arrived, Anton was interrupted by a knock on his door. Glenda informed him that it was time for lunch. He did not want to seem aloof, so he joined Terun and his family for lunch. While they were eating, he was surprised when Terun asked if they could watch a movie together with the whole village, since, according to their village head, the snow would last until the end of the day. Anton wanted to be friendly with the brownies, so he acquiesced.

  Everyone braved the snow to go to the largest structure in the village, which they call the village hall. One side of the hall featured a large fireplace, and the roaring fire was exceptionally strong, filling the entire village hall with warmth. It was so comfortable that Anton almost felt sleepy.

  Anton did a quick count on how many brownies there were, but was having a hard time since the very young to the teenagers were moving around so much. Based on his attempts, Anton thought there were as many as five hundred brownies in the hall.

  Terun got busy with the help of the other brownies in arranging the hall into what looked like a makeshift cinema. The fireplace would be at the back, and the other side would be the screen. Thankfully, the wall was enough that the projected screen from Anton’s globe of browser sharing should be clear.

  Anton had decided to let the Brownies watch Avatar. The movie was an epic one, and the premise was easy enough to understand. Since the people of this world were used to magic, the concept of space and futuristic machines would not be too hard to understand. He knew that they would basically treat those things as products created by mages.

  A lot of the Brownies kept asking their leader and Terun about what would happen. The old village head just gave a quick explanation that showed that he really did not know, but Terun was enthusiastic in his explanation.

  When everyone was ready, Anton went to the front and gave a brief explanation of what movies were and a brief advertisement of the family cinema located in Ormunda. He wanted the fact to spread that something wonderful was available in Ormunda, and for a price, they could watch different movies every month. Anton saw that the young ones were especially excited. Apparently, Terun's kids were enthusiastic about spreading to their friends the movie they had seen when they were stuck in Anton’s tiny house while they were traveling.

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  Thankfully, even though there was a large fireplace at their back, the village hall was dim enough when they turned off the lanterns that the movie could be seen clearly. When the movie started, everyone became silent as if a Silence Spell was cast.

  The concept of the modern world, space, spaceship, and alien planets was too huge for the imagination of the people who had not seen them before, so Anton could see that the Brownie folks were overwhelmed. The young ones’ eyes, though, were shining, as if something was awakening inside them. Anton knew what it was. It was a sense of wonder and adventure.

  Anton heard the gasps from everyone when they saw the magical alien forest that James Cameron brought to life on screen. It was truly alien, from all the flora and fauna and the fierce animals, but there was a wild beauty that could bring tears to someone who truly loves untamed nature. He had to admit that the creators of the movie were truly genius and he could not believe that they did not use magic to bring the movie to life. During the battle scenes, the brownie folks could not help but stand up since their little bodies seemed to be full of excitement. There was a sense that the peaceful folks wanted to enter the movie and fight together with the alien beings in the movie to defend their forest home.

  He knew that the Brownies could relate to the tall, blue beings since Anton knew that if something or someone wanted to conquer their home, they, too, would rise to defend it.

  When the scene came wherein the protagonist's consciousness was being transferred permanently to his Avatar body, Anton could see that some of the brownies had tears in their eyes. Anton found that the reaction of the brownie folks to the movie was much more extreme compared to the Ormundans. Probably, because they too were the children of the forest.

  When the movie ended, everyone cheered. Anton saw that because of the film, all of the brownie folks looked at him in a much more friendly manner. They could not stop talking about the movie. The kids were especially active, reenacting scenes from the film. The brownies also planned an impromptu celebration that night as a form of celebration. When Anton asked what for, they simply told them that it was to celebrate the movie’s protagonist successfully transferring his consciousness to his avatar body. The statement flabbergasted Anton and reiterated that the movie was not real and was just a story, but the brownies did not care. When Anton thought about it again, the Brownie just wanted to find an excuse to celebrate, and the movie was a good excuse.

  The brownie folks returned home immediately to prepare the food for the party they planned to hold that night. Anton followed Terun and his family home. While everyone was preparing, Anton went to his room to continue leveling up his Diablo characters.

  After a few hours, Terun informed Anton that the party was going to start soon. They all went to the village hall again, which was now filled with food prepared by the brownies. Anton was surprised that there were some meat dishes. He thought that the brownies were vegetarians, but apparently, their farms also had animals.

  The party lasted for hours, and unfortunately, Anton let it slip that there were two more Avatar films in the franchise. He did not have any intention to show the second and third films to the brownies, but because of his slip-up, the brownie folks did their best to persuade Anton to show them the second and third films, even to the point of offering him coins.

  Anton declined the coins and promised to show the second film after lunch the next day. The brownies could not contain their excitement, and soon, everyone knew that the second Avatar film would be shown the next day.

  When they returned home that night, Terun's kids pestered Anton regarding what the second Avatar film was all about, and they were so persistent that he showed them the trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water.