Child of Destiny



...…

Shin was sitting at the center of his room in a cross-legged position. He was still in a deep meditation state.

There was a strong gust of wind circling around him as his body seemed to be devouring the surrounding Force of Nature greedily and converting it into energy that he needed. It was as if quenching his thirst due to his current state.

There was also a transparent Mental Energy revolving around Shin, forming a vortex. But surprisingly, despite how strong the gust of wind and the vortex of mental energy around him, none of the objects inside the room were affected. It was as if everything was nothing but an illusion.

Inside Shin's consciousness, the pagoda that he was building was greedily devouring all the mental energy pouring into it.

Originally, there were only four floors present on it, signifying that he was at the peak of the initial phase of the Grandmaster Realm.

But right now, there were three additional floors on it, which was clearly telling that he did not only return to the middle phase but also surpassed it and stepped on the late phase of the realm already.

But compared to the first four floors, the next three floors were a little translucent and hazy. This clearly signified that their foundation was much weaker compared to the preceding ones. They were not as solid as those four floors.

This signified that he was still not completely at the late phase yet. In a sense, he could be considered a 'fake' late-phase Mentalist of the Grandmaster Realm.

But since his Spiritual Pagoda was more complex than normal Niwan Palace, and since it was built with his Divinity Grade Mental Energy, this power was still more powerful compared to most of the Mentalists around the world, especially the average ones.

After a couple of minutes, Shin slowly opened his eyes, which were releasing a pale transparent golden glow.

He slowly exhaled before looking at his hands. He opened and closed them, seemingly testing his strength before summoning his mental energy.

He observed it for a few moments before doing the same mental energy exercise.

He nodded his head after quite some time, but still wear a little frown in the end. He indeed broke through, but he could still find that something was missing. He felt that his strength was still not complete.

"The Head Priestess is right. I really could take advantage of the strength of my bloodline to forcefully have a minor breakthrough and rely on my Divinity Grade Mental Energy to build decent floors for my Spirit Pagoda," he muttered as he continued to observe the changes that he had.

"I've returned to the middle phase by relying on it, now I used the same method to break through. This bloodline of mine sure is mysterious," he added as he recalled the guidance that he received from the Head Priestess.

The more he learned about his Bloodline, the more satisfied he became.

"Now, all I have to do is explore the other innate attributes that I have and integrate them into my system later. After that, I can finally focus on combining the systems of the Four Symbol Scripture and the Jade Kirin Scripture."

Just like what David had said to him before, having multiple disciplines would give him a lot of advantages, but it would also give him a couple of disadvantages, especially when it came to time management.

But by cutting down all the tasks that he had to focus on, he could save more time and put more attention to specific things without neglecting the others.

Now that he had temporarily dealt with his realm, he could solely focus on exploring his innate attributes.

"This would do for now," he muttered before thinking about his next course of action. "I should consolidate my realm first before asking Arthur and Leonard for a few sparring matches to make me get used to my current state."

"After that, I will proceed with the assignments that Old Man Lin had given us," he muttered before looking at the pile of books beside him.

Those were the breathing techniques that Old Man Lin had tasked him to learn before he went out on the mission.

He did not have time before, but if he still hadn't finished learning these breathing skills before the resume of their special classes, then he would surely be in trouble when Old Man Lin learned about it.

******

The first week of the group in the Magic Ace Academy went by just like that. And alongside it, the re-opening of the servers of the most famous game, «Destiny's Fate» Online, was also fast approaching.

But since Monday and Tuesday were considered as 'weekends' for the game, the servers would only be up until Wednesday.

The players would have to wait until then.

This was also a bonus for the employees and game developers of the World Gaming Organization. They were given at least two days of vacation to enjoy themselves and relax – or rest.

But this did not change the schedule. The World Gaming Organization still released additional information about the update of the game.

…

Shin, Arthur, and Leonard were currently lying on the floor of a training room within the branch of the Flying Dragon Corporation. Since their houses were still in the middle of construction, they still did not have a proper and private place to train.

The training grounds of the academy were a good choice since they were equipped with the most advanced tools and equipment that they could use.

Unfortunately, they needed to spend their merit points to use them, and the three were too stingy enough for those. The regular training ground was too crowded, so they would not be able to hide their cards from the others, particularly the spying ones that were keeping an eye on them.

To protect their secrets, the three choose to head to the Flying Dragon Corporation. Arthur was still a young master of the corporation, so even if he was not interested in taking over it, he was still free to use their influence and properties if necessary, and only if he was using it reasonably.

Using their facilities such as training grounds was not a big deal.

They just finished their three-way battle, which was why the three of them were currently in their current state.

While resting, Arthur suddenly remembered something and said. "The servers are going to be available for two days. What is the plan?"

Shin rolled his eyes. "We have already talked about this before, haven't we? We agree to do our own things when the server is up and regroup again when we are going to move to the Awakened Continent."

Arthur clicked his tongue and refuted. "I know that! What I am talking about is the upcoming cup!"

Shin knitted his brows as he tried to remember the schedule of the tournaments that the World Gaming Organization had organized. But no matter how hard he thought about it, he still could not remember that there was anything that was coming up around this time.

Arthur quickly sat up and turned to Shin. And when he saw that the latter did not have any idea of what he was talking about, he could not help but reprimand his brother. "Hey! I know that you are not interested in any fame or whatnot, but at least pay attention to the big events that the virtual world has."

"You are already a Godlike Player for f*ck's sake!" he added as he glared at Shin.

Shin knitted his brow and looked at Arthur confusedly. "What are you talking about? Didn't the next big tournament the Hegemon Cup? There are still two months before it."

Arthur rolled his eyes at Shin and continued. "Hey! You are no longer a solo player, so you can't just focus on individual events! There are still group events! We are already a team; can't you also pay attention to events related to that?"

Shin tilted his head to the side and asked innocently. "Isn't it the job of Commander of our Adventurer Team? Why do I have to think about that?"

"Argh!" Arthur pulled his hair out of frustration when he heard that.

Leonard, who was still exhausted, could not help but laugh at the two for their exchanges. At the same time, he was also quite surprised that they were still full of energy after their three-way battle.

Seeing that Arthur was on the verge of losing his mind, Leonard chimed in. "He is talking about the United Cup. It is a competition that concerns different organizations of the game."

"It is one of the major factors that is needed for the rankings of the organizations aside from the Festival War at the end of the year," he added.

Arthur nodded his head and quickly added a few more information. "This time, the Hegemon Cup is further delayed for at least another month or two because of the huge update. The 'WGO' is thinking to give the players more time to adjust themselves with the new mechanic of the game."

"They also want us to explore more about it and give us enough time to familiarize ourselves with the new fighting styles and combat techniques added in the game."

He paused for a moment to catch his breath a little before continuing. "But in exchange, the United Cup is moving forward. It is also an opportunity that the players can use to further familiarized themselves with the new game mechanic, particularly those special states."

"At the same time, it is also another chance to look for more invitees that can participate in Hegemon Cup."

"Since the game was advancing to another level, and with the addition of the new mechanic that it has, there are some hidden talents that are bound to appear. The game company will surely take this chance to scout them and be invited to the Hegemon Cup."

Shin nodded in understanding after hearing their explanation. But still, he turned at the two with a clueless expression. "What about it?"

Hearing that, the other two could not help but look at Shin with a weird look before simultaneously cursing. "F*ck!"

...