Chapter 937
Chapter 937
Looking at the reactions of his batchmates as they watched Titanic, Anton felt that he had made the right choice.
Although he had thought the film’s target audience would primarily be women, and he could see that the ladies in his batch were completely riveted to the screen—especially his intended audience, Maura—the men also seemed to be enjoying the movie.
Tears began to flow during the scenes that could tug at anyone’s heartstrings, such as the elderly couple embracing as the ship sank, the mother telling her children a bedtime story while the water rose inside their cabin, and the ship’s band continuing to play in the middle of the disaster.
The tears reached their peak during Jack’s death scene on top of the floating door and when the officer began searching for survivors.
The sobbing became loud enough that the sound of the movie, combined with the crying, attracted more people to the room where the new members had gathered.
Since they hadn’t locked the door, anyone who was curious could enter. The only warning they received was not to make any noise.
Even though most of the newcomers arrived during the latter part of the movie, they stayed to watch the rest.
Anton knew he would receive requests to let them watch the entire movie, and to be honest, it wouldn’t be much of a bother. He could simply hand a tiny Globe of Browser Sharing to anyone who wanted to manage the film, and the problem would be solved.
When the movie ended, Anton played the film’s music video for My Heart Will Go On, which contained clips from some of the scenes in the film. It brought the waterworks back once again, particularly among the women.
After the music video ended, Anton dispelled his Globe of Browser Sharing and stored the white blanket he had used as the screen.
He almost laughed out loud when he saw Maura and some of the other girls with faces swollen from crying.
“That was the best thing I’ve ever seen! You were right, Anton. It’s completely different from the recordings my parents showed me that came from other worlds,” Maura said. She was still rubbing her eyes with a handkerchief.
“How was that play made? Especially without using magic?” one of Anton’s batchmates asked.
Anton began explaining how movies were made and how technology was used to create some of the scenes.
He knew they still couldn’t believe that the movie they had just watched wasn’t real and was merely a performance created through technology. Anton could understand their disbelief. From the perspective of someone who had never seen a movie before, the realism of a film was undoubtedly its greatest appeal.
“You have a lot of movies like this?” Maura asked delicately.
Anton smiled. He knew he had accomplished his goal of endearing himself to Maura and the others through his movies. That would allow him to gather information from them without much difficulty.
“I have thousands upon thousands of movies. We can schedule a weekly movie viewing, and in return, you’ll answer all my questions regarding Remuth and Traveler’s Haven,” Anton said.
“Sure, but to be honest, you’ll learn about them anyway since your teacher will teach them to you,” Maura said with a shrug.
“I know, but I think it’s better to establish a network for gathering information. I also think it would be a good idea for all of us to create one since it would be good practice for us as travelers,” Anton told them.
Everyone seemed to agree with him.
“Still, our main business in Ormunda revolves around our movies, and my father would scold me if I let too many people watch them without charging anything. I think I’ll rent a venue in the tower and hire a couple of people to manage my cinema for me. What do you think would be a fair price to charge for weekly movie viewings within a limited time frame?” Anton asked.
A discussion began about the cinema Anton planned to open inside the tower. After several minutes of discussing the business details, they realized that many things needed to be researched before they could actually start the cinema.
First, they would need to determine whether Anton was allowed to establish a business inside the tower. Maura told everyone that the likelihood of Anton receiving approval was quite high as long as he had enough funds to rent a venue.
Businesses were allowed inside the tower. A good example was the café where Lemuel had brought Anton for their earlier discussion.
Once Anton learned how much he would need to pay for a venue and for the crew who would manage the cinema, he could determine a price that he felt would be fair for everyone.
“I think this is going to be more bothersome than it’s worth. We’re all new members, and we’ll be busy learning how to become travelers. I don’t think I’ll have the time to open a business,” Anton said after a few minutes of reflection.
His batchmates seemed to agree with him, but he noticed that Maura and some of the others had become slightly anxious.
More than likely, their desire to watch more movies was competing with the idea of allowing Anton to abandon the plan for a cinema.
Anton sighed.
“Why don’t we just treat movie watching as something we can use to unwind from our busy schedules? We can hold a viewing once a week or twice a month,” Anton suggested.
His suggestion was met with approval.
Because of that, they scheduled their next movie viewing for seven days later.
The problem was that many of the latecomers were clamoring for a chance to watch the movie they had just seen since they had arrived during the latter part of the film.
Since Anton wanted to foster a good relationship with his batchmates, he told them that he would allow them to watch the movie again that night.
He asked someone to set up a white blanket against the wall again. He didn’t offer his own blanket since he planned to leave and rest. He didn’t want to be late for his first meeting with Lemuel the following day.
Once the screen was set up, Anton told those who would be watching the movie that the spell he used to display the film would dissipate once the movie ended.
He also wasn’t surprised that the people who had just watched the movie a few minutes earlier wanted to stay and watch it again.
After the movie started, Anton left and returned to his room to rest.
The next day, he met Lemuel in a room on the fourth floor of the tower, where Anton’s Initiate teacher had told him they would meet for lessons.
Before they started, Lemuel asked about the movie.
Apparently, word had spread that a wonderful theater play had been shown to the novices by a newcomer. Since Lemuel knew Anton’s history, his teacher had already realized that they were talking about the movies from Anton’s family.
Anton quickly realized that the main reason Lemuel was asking about the film was to get an invitation.
Apparently, interest in the scheduled movie viewing had become so great that Maura and the others had been forced to limit the number of people who could attend the next film. Only those who received an invitation would be allowed to watch it.
Anton laughed when he heard about it.
Thankfully, Maura had taken it upon herself to handle the arrangements because, in truth, Anton didn’t want the bother.
Lemuel asked what film he was planning to show next, and Anton had already decided the previous night that he would show everyone Avatar.
Since his teacher was interested, Anton showed him the trailer using one of the walls in the room.
He saw that Lemuel immediately became intrigued.
Thankfully, after that, they proceeded with Anton’s lesson on Spatial Magic Meditation.