Child of Destiny

...…

Shin was able to come back to his room in the hotel at nine in the evening. And right after he reached his bed, he immediately collapsed on it. He was extremely exhausted right now and did not have any plans to do anything else.

He was almost awake for two days straight and had no time to rest. Even during his deep meditation, he was currently training or studying something.

After getting inspiration from the rehearsal that One Day Dairy had just done, he went straight to Professor Henry's house and asked Benedict to oversee his training and even invited the latter to spar with him.

At that time, even though the progress was good, it still did not meet his expectations. He still missing a crucial key that would make his Mentalism complete.

Then, after a few moments of contemplating the questions inside his head, he suddenly met with the professor, who had just gotten back from the trip and given him some hints about the problem that he currently facing.

He then entered a state of enlightenment, which lasted for a couple of hours and was immediately followed by another sparring session with Benedict to consolidate his realm and newly improved Mentalism.

After that, he went to the headquarters of the Sleeping Dragons to undergo a complete physical examination and thorough data gathering.

It was to prepare him for the upcoming training sessions that would be much more difficult and extreme than what he was already suffering from.

Professor Henry had also given him some tasks that he needed to complete. One of them was for him to master his Solar Breathing Technique and reach a certain level of mastery.

It was the same for the Golden Immortality Technique, which needed to be on the same level of mastery as the previous technique to maintain a balance between his innate attributes.

To make sure that the balance would not be broken easily, Professor Henry had also prepared another special technique that Shin had to master. It was another Breathing Technique, but the elemental attribute that it had was for Earth Element.

The professor wanted to create a plate that would make Shin able to withstand the multiple elements within his body. If at least one of the elements was slightly off, it could cause disastrous consequences, leading him to be heavily injured.

Worse, it could also make him a cripple.

Out of the five attributes that Shin could possibly get, the Earth Elemental Attribute was the best when it came to 'containing' the other attributes.

It could help Shin create a perfect structure or prototype of the ideal vessel that they wanted, which would also be molded into the 'Five Elemental Body' that they wanted. This attribute would be the base and the main foundation.

The technique was called the 'Great Dominator Technique', another body strengthening technique converted to a breathing technique.

This 'Great Dominator Technique' had a similar root to the 'Golden Immortality Technique', which was derived from the ancient cultivation methods of the era of cultivators.

The only difference that the two had was the latter was meant to hone the lungs through breathing technique and used it as a center of energy circulation within the body, which would filler all the energy absorbed in the air and turn it into pure energy that would hone the body along with a set of physical exercises prepared for it.

The former, on the other hand, followed the teachings of different ancient disciplines, particularly in Buddhism.

In the era of ancient cultivators, the monks of Buddhist Temples were one of the strongest experts when it came to body refining. Their methods of honing the body were one of the best, especially the 'Immortal Flesh Technique', 'Golden Varja Body', and such.

The current era adapted these techniques and converted them into a new set of techniques that would be more suitable for the current era. One of the products that they had made was the 'Great Dominator Technique', which was also another type of breathing and body strengthening technique combined together.

Despite having the same root, the 'Golden Immortality Technique' and 'Great Dominator Technique' had a somewhat different style and path that they were following. Especially when it came to innate attributes that they were nurturing.

But due to the same reason, these two techniques did not deviate too much away from each other. Instead, they even complimented the main characteristics that the other technique had. They strengthened and lifted each other to a whole different level when used together.

This was the main reason why Professor Henry had chosen the 'Great Dominator Technique'.

With that, Shin had gotten another advanced technique that he had to learn and master. He had to properly train all three breathing techniques and equally manage them so that he could attain the ideal balance that they were hoping for.

Thinking about the series of events that happened to him these past two days, Shin could not help but feel more exhausted.

He could only sigh deeply before slowly closing his eyes. It was not long until he had fallen asleep and drifted away into the dream world.

…

The next day, Wednesday, was yet another day.

Shin had woken up at the usual time. Even though he still wanted to sleep and continue lying down on his bed, his body clock was already used.

Even if he was completely exhausted, his mind and body were telling him not to slack off on his training.

He could only curse himself as he forced his body to get up. Even though his comfortable bed was still trying to tempt him to be lazy and continue sleeping, he managed to fight against the alluring temptation.

Professor Henry had already explained it to him yesterday. He had to continue his regular morning training and start with the basics once again.

The professor explained to him that before his body deteriorated from its current form and destroyed his current foundation.

He had been warned that his current body still had not adjusted itself to the newly improved and perfected Four Symbol Scripture. If he did not want to destroy everything that he had built up until now, then he had to start training from the very beginning and reconstruct his current foundations.

Starting with the basic was the first followed by the more advanced methods and others.

Shin had to start reviewing everything he had learned up until now if he did not want to lose everything and leave a flaw or hole in his Mentalism.

He did not do anything, especially in his morning training, and instead focused on the basic foundation training and deep meditation. He had performed every simple move and basic skill repetitively and patiently before undergoing a mediation where he reevaluated himself and calmed his mind.

After all of these, he went to take a quick shower before preparing to head to the academy. He did not want to miss another class this time since he understood more than anyone how important each class was, especially after learning from Professor Herny these past few days.

…

In the Magic Ace Academy, nothing special happened. Everything went according to everyone's daily routine like attending lectures during the morning and undergoing torturous physical training in the afternoon.

This was even more true for the class that students of the special program were attending. Professor Kyrie seemed to be stricter than before while Old Man Lin continued to give them an impossible task.

Shin, his friends, and the other students in the class could not tell exactly what it was, but they could at least tell from the atmosphere surrounding the entire school that something intense or important was currently happening.

No one voiced it out, but everyone knew that something was coming, and it was not a smaller matter.

Their suspicions became eminent when the academy announced that any activities that needed to be conducted outside the academy or city premises would be suspended, particularly the scheduled field trips, combat competitions, and such.

…

Back in the hotel where Shin and the others were currently staying, the Monster Trio was gathered inside Arthur's room once again.

"This is odd. Why is the academy suspending all the outside activities when the semester barely started? Something must be happening," mumbled Leonard as he found the strange atmosphere surrounding the academy was quite disturbing.

"Is it a terror attack or something? I also noticed that the Military is making obvious movements. They seem to be preparing for something. Maybe there is a war coming?" said Arthur, voicing out his thoughts.

But this was immediately dismissed by Shin by saying. "It is definitely not a war. Given the background of the Soaring Continent, which is also known for its powerful military prowess compared to the other continents, it will be impossible for the government to hide from the citizens if there is an upcoming war."

"We have protocols and other civilian practices when it comes to these occasions. The citizens know what to do when there is war coming," he repeated, rejecting the idea.

"Then what is it?" mumbled Leonard.

Shin thought for a moment before voicing out his thoughts. "I am not sure, but I have some guesses."

"Oh!? Alright. Let's hear your thoughts about this," said Arthur, curious about what Shin was currently thinking.

Shin thought for a moment before saying. "Remember our mission with Senior Brother?"

"The one where Leonard gets his inheritance and undergoes an unexpected Bloodline Ceremony?" said Arthur with creasing brows.

"Yeah, that one," nodded Shin before saying. "From what I have heard, it created a lot of issues and even attracted the attention of different big organizations."

"With such a big event, it is only natural for the big groups to investigate the truth about it," he said as he started to analyze everything. "But since Uncle Nathan is suppressing everything and hiding the fact that Leonard is the one who accepts that powerful inheritance, there must be a limited number of people who know about the truth."

"What about it? It is not like a war will break out due to it," said Arthur, not fully convinced, before adding. "From what I have heard, this is not the first time that something like this has happened."

Shin nodded his head before continuing. "Yes. That is right. But what if another one appears in our territory while those big figures are investigating the truth of what happened?"

"What if an inheritance of a similar level, or something even better, appears all of a sudden any they stumble upon the news when they are investigating?" he emphasized to make sure that Arthur understood.

"Ah!" Arthur quickly realized the gravity of the situation. "Then there must be an intense competition that will take place!"

"No wonder the academy halted all the outside activities. It is to prevent some accidents from happening and-… and-… it is also to preserve their strengths when something unexpected happens!" said Arthur with a loud voice after realizing what was going on.

Then quickly voiced out his thoughts. "Then the place where it will happen must be near Ace City since the professors are clearly on high alert!"

Shin slightly nodded his head before adding. "That is only one of the places."

Hearing that, the other turned to him with an inquiring look, clearly asking him to continue.

Shin thought for a moment before continuing. "My first guess is the place that you have mentioned before. That place where a strange phenomenon is currently happening. The one with the trees and plants is wilting at an insane rate."

"Oh! The one near where that senior from Heavenly Taste asked us to be substituted for their missing performers!" exclaimed Arthur as he suddenly remembered.

"That is a strange place, and the rapid wilting of the plants must be due to something related to an inheritance or a powerful monstrous beast that is absorbing all the life force of from the surroundings," said Shin.

He then paused for a moment before continuing. "The other place may be related to the tomb or ancient ruins that our excavators have dug recently."

"My mentor has visited it recently. I don't know what they have discovered, but I am guessing that it must be something important since Professor Henry is an important figure in the World Researcher Center."

"And if it is something that can pull him away from his research activities, then it must be something very important. Something that he can't ignore," he added as his suspicions grew larger.

...