Child of Destiny

...

When Shin woke up, he found himself lying on a portable bed inside a tent. Based on the equipments and tools inside the tent, it seemed to be a temporary shelter that was usually built by the military whenever they were in an operation.

Shin stared blankly in the air for a couple of moments, trying to recall what he was doing before passing out. There was an unbearable headache that assaulted him before he finally remembered everything.

He recalled that he was on his way home after eating outside with Arthur and Leonard. Then they got ambushed by unknown people and a fight broke out. Shin was even dragged by a powerful mercenary inside an isolated space before struggling to fight.

But from what he could remember, he lost that battle due to his worsening injuries. His memories were cut off at that moment before another set of fragmented images flashed through his mind.

"That's right! Something happened in my Niwan Palace when I am buried under the ground," muttered Shin before closing his eyes and entering a meditative state. He was going to see what were the changes inside his Niwan Palace.

And when his thoughts were sent inside his sea of consciousness, he found that his Niwan Palace was way different from before. It was now much larger and sturdier compared to what he remembered. There were even a series of runes engraved on its surfaces which were releasing a brilliant glow from time to time.

Not only that – his sea of consciousness transformed into an 'inner world'. He had already seen this sight before but it now had more distinct features as if he was in an independent world.

The whole place was still simple. The blue sky with drifting clouds in the area above him while the 'ground' where he stood was like a smooth surface of ice, resembling a clear mirror. With how clear the 'ground' was, the tranquil sky above was clearly reflected by it.

After spinning around for a moment, Shin turned his attention back to the Niwan Palace and discovered that aside from its new appearance, there were also two more floors in it.

Mentalists were more reliant on their Niwan Palaces since it was the center of their mind and power. It was where they store and nurture their Mental Energy. The stronger the Niwan Palace was, the more powerful a Mentalist could be.

In Grandmaster Realm, where the Mentalists focused on developing their Niwan Palaces, the higher their palaces could reach, the more power they could get.

It was said that the Niwan Palace could reach three floors in the Grandmaster Realm, which would signify that the Mentalists reached the peak of this stage.

Each realm in Mentalism Practices was usually divided into five stages such as entry, initial, middle, late, and peak stages.

Shin was currently on the middle stage of the Grandmaster Realm previously, so the fact that his Niwan Palace already had three floors, would only mean that Shin skipped the late stage and quickly reached the peak stage already.

That was a stage equivalent to David! And this stage was supposedly as strong as the final phase of Ethereal Opening Stage Expert, which was the current strength of Shiella!

Shin was quite excited at first when he thought about it, but his enthusiasm quickly subdued when he realized that his current state was not at that level yet.

The appearance of his Niwan Palace might be similar to the peak stage of the Grandmaster Realm but its actual strength was still nowhere near that level.

Shin became confused when he realized this fact and started thinking deeply about it. He then suddenly remembered that his Mentalism Method was different from everyone else. He was practicing the Four Symbol Scripture that Grandmaster Benn had invented and its division of stages was on a completely different system.

The usual Niwan Palace of a Mentalist had three levels but his Niwan Palace was supposed to have nine different levels and it should resemble an ancient nine-floored pagoda.

Grandmaster Benn called it the Spiritual Pagoda.

The entry stage was supposed to be for building up the foundation, the first floor was for the initial stage, the middle stage was when the second floor was created, and the late stage was the formation of the third floor, which was the peak stage solidifying everything.

This was how the Grandmaster Realm was supposed to build. But the Mentalism Method that Shin was practicing was a little different.

Each stage corresponded to every two floors of his spiritual pagoda. The first two stage was for the entry stage while the following two stages stood for the initial stage. This continued until the eighth floor while the ninth and final floor was for the peak stage of the Grandmaster Realm for him.

The formation of the final floor was the hardest which corresponded with the solidification of the Niwan Palace of the usual method.

Shin was already solidifying his fifth floor and was about to start creating the sixth floor which made him in the middle stage of the Grandmaster Realm. But seeing that he was back at having three floors of his spiritual pagoda, Shin felt powerless and discouraged.

This meant that he went back to the initial stage of his realm!

"Did my foundation was damaged due to what happened earlier?" thought Shin as he remembered the mysterious phenomenon that occurred during the battle.

His Niwan Palace exploded at that time, so it would not be strange if his foundation was damaged by it. But that thought only lasted for a moment as he quickly shook his head.

After taking a closer look at his new Spiritual Pagoda, he found that each floor was much sturdier than the ones that he previously had. The Mental Energy that they were releasing now was also much purer and denser too.

"No, it is not just purer or denser-… It feels like my Mental Energy transformed. It is much more powerful and more mysterious than what I have previously," he muttered seriously.

He fell into deep thought before remembering something all of a sudden. "It is somewhat familiar too. It-… it feels similar to Senior Brother's Mental Energy!"

During his previous special training, Shin learned that there were also different types of Mental Energy which varied based on their purity and density. And from what he could remember, the purest and most powerful Mental Energy was in the Divinity Grade!

"Don't tell me that my Mental Energy was in Divinity Grade? But Senior Brother and Old Fatty said that it is impossible to wield such powerful Mental Energy in the lower realms. This is the reason why Mentalist sealed a portion of its powers with the Meridian Locking. This is the case for Senior Brother too."

"How come that my Mental Energy is in that stage?!" Shin was surprised and confused.

He was only in the Grandmaster Realm, so someone like him wielding such powerful Mental Energy was completely unheard of.

"Strange. This is completely strange. I have to inform Senior Brother and the Old Fatty about this as soon as possible," muttered Shin as he continued to explore the changes in his body.

That was when he also realized that even though his realm regressed back to the initial stage, his strength was comparable to his previous stage. No, he was obviously much stronger than what he was before.

"My injuries also healed completely too," he added after checking his body's condition. He completely recovered from the injuries that he previously had.

Even the recent wounds that he was supposed to have from the previous battle were nowhere to be seen. He was in a completely healthy state. He then sighed in relief after making sure that there were no hidden injuries within his body.

After getting familiar with his new powers, Shin got up from the bed and was planning to walk out of the tent. Even though the situation was already under control, he still wanted to take a look and understand what was happening.

He wanted to know who were their assailants and why were they targeting him. From what he heard from the radio and the mumblings of the mercenary that he just faced; it seemed like someone what him dead.

He could not recall what happened after he passed out. He did not know how that mercenary with fire superpowers was defeated. There were a lot of things that made him curious.

When he got up, he realized that his clothes were currently in a tattered state. He was no different from the homeless people roaming in the streets. "Tsk!"

While he was lamenting for his clothes, Arthur and Leonard suddenly entered the tent. The three suddenly froze and looked into each other's eyes before the two burst out laughing.

"Yo! You look like a beggar! It somewhat suits you," said Arthur as he threw the military clothes that he was currently carrying. "Change with these and come with us outside. Uncle Nathan wants to hear what happen to you."

Shin could not help but become confused after hearing those words. He then looked at the two with furrowed brows and asked. "What do you mean by that? I remembered that I'd lost to my opponent before passing out."

"Didn't Uncle Nathan arrive at that time and save me?" he added as he was trying to remember what happened to him at the last moment. But no matter how hard he tried; he could not remember what happened after he got buried by a pile of rubbles.

Arthur and Leonard gave him a strange look before exchanging glances with each other. Then Leonard turned back to Shin and spoke. "You should change for now Shin Bro. Let's continue outside. Sir Nathan is waiting."

After that, the two turned around and walked out of the tent while wearing a confused look on their faces.

From what they heard, Shin fought against the strongest member of the mercenaries and won in the end. But what Shin had told them was completely different from what the investigation had concluded.

Shin was also wearing a similar look on his face. He was not sure what they were saying, but he was confident that he was not the one who defeated his opponent.

At least, that was what he believed.

...…