Rise of the White Dragon

"Is this the girl I hear you've adopted?" When they reached the living room, Saulo looked at Cristina and then looked at Maira as he asked her this.

"Yes, she is my daughter, Cristina Dimas," Maira replied and then said, looking at Cristina, "Cristina, come here and greet your grandfather."

"Yes!" Cristina walked quickly, looking like a robot, towards Maira and Saulo Dimas. She bowed and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you!"

"She is not bad." Saulo touched his aged beard. He was able to feel that she was not normal since Christina had an even stronger presence than a soldier who served in the army for 10 years. Saulo added, "Now that you have been adopted by my daughter, you must address me as a grandfather or grandpa."

"Yes, grandpa!" Cristina responded stiffly and adorably. Even Saul, who was an iron-hearted man, smiled a little when he saw her do that.

"Grandfather, this one by my side is my girlfriend, Ingrid Anjos," Luan said, holding Ingrid's hand, which was sweating a little.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Saulo Dimas," Ingrid said politely, almost stuttering.

"My grandson has a good eye. You are beautiful and not simple either," Saulo nodded in approval and said, "It doesn't have to be formal. Call me Mr. Saulo, or even a grandfather, just like Luan does."

"Mr. Saulo, lunch is ready. Would you like to be served now? " A maid said she had just entered.

"Yes. Bring everything to the balcony table. I want to eat outside today," Saulo turned to her and answered.

The maid bowed and left.

"Let's eat first." Saulo said in his aged voice, "I know you have something to say to me, not simply the fact of wanting to introduce Luan's girlfriend and my adopted granddaughter."

"That's right." Maira did not deny it. It was true that they had something to talk to him about, and it would be better if he talked after lunch.

Saulo Dimas liked to eat outdoors. There was a big table outside, which was covered by a high roof just to shade and protect from the rain.

"Sit down." Saulo said. Luan helped him sit down in the chair at the end of the table. Luan then sat next to him on the left side, while Maira sat on the right side. Catharina and Cristina sat on the same side as Maira, and Ingrid sat next to Luan.

The maids served them lunch made up of salad, rice, red beans, roasted chicken, roasted kobe beef, meat lasagna, and mashed potatoes with corn and peas.

The smell was great, making everyone start to get busy and start eating.

Saulo, despite his age, had a huge appetite. His dish had a lot of rice and beans, with salad and a big piece of roasted kobe beef. He had cut out alcohol a few years ago, so now he was drinking natural orange juice.

The lunch was very cheerful. Saulo asked many questions about Cristina and Ingrid. Gradually, he learned of them both. Another thing: from beginning to end he did not speak or ask what had happened to his son, Nilson Dimas. It was like he didn't care, or it never had happened.

After lunch was over, the maids removed the dishes and food from the table.

"It's all right." Saulo looked at Luan seriously with his eyes narrowed. "Luan, what's going on? Before you deny anything, I already understood that you are no longer ordinary people. You don't need to make lame excuses; I am old, but not senile."

"We don't intend to lie to you, grandfather." Luan looked into his grandfather's eyes, without fear. "I came just to meet you and tell you some things that I believe already know about, grandfather."

"Supernatural things?" Saulo didn't need Luan to explain, for him to understand. Saul was an old and cunning man who had passed by and seen many things.

There was another reason why he brought them to eat outside: it was to see the reaction of the insects the moment they bit each of them. And it was as he thought, the insects did not avoid Luan, Maira, and the girls. They tried to bite them several times, but it didn't work, in fact, they were not significant enough to even make them move because of the bite, since neither even a thin layer of their skin has been punctured.

"Yes, grandfather, all five of us are stronger and more powerful than ordinary humans." Luan looked without blinking at his grandfather as he spoke. "Grandfather, there are many things I want to tell you, and one of them is about the mysterious cracks that appeared in the news. I assume, grandfather, that you already knew about this, yes?"

Saulo nodded and added, "That's right. I saw it in the news and I also had conversations with some people in power, who asked me if I knew anything about it."

"As you can imagine, it is something real and I, like all of us, have entered several of these gaps." Luan explained, omitting some of the truth. "In these cracks, some of them, at least in all three that we entered, there were monsters, or living beings, such as animals, insects, arachnids, etc. They were all mutants, and even the living dead exist."

Saulo was surprised only for a few seconds. He also realized that Luan was not being totally sincere, but did not question him. He said, "Yes, I was also able to observe up close some parts of the scorpions and spiders that a group of people brought from one of these crevices."

"Grandfather, I said that so far, this because I know a way to train the body which anyone can use and become stronger than normal. They can even become 20 times stronger than an ordinary man." Luan was prepared to talk about the best techniques that could overcome this level of strength, but just mentioning that alone was enough to shake Saulo.

Being twenty times stronger than an ordinary man was not a simple thing. It meant that someone could survive the shot of an AK-47. If an army with such people went to war against the rest of the world, it was inevitable who would win.

"Tell me more about this technique." Saulo sighed and took a sip of tea which was served by one of the maids.

"I developed a game," Luan explained, "This is a computer game that will be adapted for mobile phones in the future. This game has the function of helping everyone who plays it by imitating the movements of the characters created in the game and staying strong together with the character. In addition, there is the configuration of the character where the person who will play describes all the information about him or her. This is important since depending on age, height, weight, and size, the way of training will differ between each person. Wait a moment; I'm going to get the laptop that I left in the living room. It's easier to show than to explain."

"Of course, there's no hurry." Saulo was very understanding.

Seconds later, Luan returned, carrying silver laptop in his hand. He put it on the table next to his grandfather, opened the laptop, and typed the password to open the program, and then started up the game. He clicked on character creation after going through the home screen and started showing off the settings and specifications.

"Grandfather, after a player creates their character similar to their own image, as the avatar in the game trains, the player will also undergo changes. The forecast of changes is almost 100% accurate. Of course, if the user plays but does not imitate the actions when training, only the doll will change while the real person will not."

Saulo paid close attention while listening to Luan's explanation. He had to admit that he was interested in playing this game. Even though he had already reached an advanced age, the child who lived inside him screamed and wanted to see if he was able to, well, basically: evolve.

"I don't believe that you explained all this without intending me to play this game, did you?" Saulo took his eyes off the laptop screen and looked at Luan.

Luan nodded as he agreed. "Yes, I didn't do all that just to explain about the game; I wanted you to play it, grandfather. There is something that I wanted your help with and that is related to this game."

"So I guessed right." Saulo touched his chin and said, "You want to use my contacts to present this game to the world. And knowing the stir it would bring to the world, especially in the beginning, you want me to make it look like the game was not necessarily created by you and the technique is not yours. Basically, you want to imply that Dimas Corporation, of which you have now become CEO, has become the biggest, or perhaps the only, sponsor of the game and also wants people from the army to demonstrate the game."

"Yes, that's pretty much it," Luan nodded. "But that was not all."

"If you have anything more to add, speak up." Saulo noted when Luan said that this was not all.

"When playing the game, only a part of the technique of training the body will be released, and as you play, more parts of the technique will be released, however, for the army, I am willing to provide the game with the complete technique as long as there is a confidentiality agreement, and they do not play together with the other players. However, I have one thing I require in return." Luan paused on purpose, which gave Saulo time to digest everything he heard.